Blackmail City
by MagCat
Summary: Sequel to A Night at the Bar. What did Roberto and Rahne do with the pictures on Rahne’s digital camera? Well, it all started the next day...
1. The Next Morning

**Summary: **Sequel to my oneshot _A Night at the Bar_. What did Roberto and Rahne do with the pictures on Rahne's digital camera? Well, it all started the next day… Couplings: Loro, Lancitty, Rohne, Romy, Jonda, X-ietro, Anlocke, Amay (Ray/Amara), Jubby, Tam, Lorex (Alex/Lorna), Evanielle (Evan/Danielle) and maybe more…

**Disclaimer: **I DO NOT OWN X-MEN IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM! If you think that I own this amazing franchise then talk to Stan Lee; he'll set you right as you seem to not have listened last time! THIS DISCLAIMER IS FOR THE ENTIRE FIC.!

**A/N:** Well, I got a lot of requests for a sequel to _A Night at the Bar_ so I'm honoring your wishes; here it is. You don't have to read _A Night at the Bar_ to read this. Enjoy! Oh, and the high rating is for both language and the contents of the incriminating evidence that is presented to many of the mutants in this fic.

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

'_blah…' _-telepathy/what people say mentally

**_Blackmail City_ **

**Chapter 1: The Next Morning**

_**Kitchen, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, New York, USA—June 9, 2006, 8:00 AM**_

Professor Charles Xavier wheeled himself down to the kitchen, desperately hoping to avoid the chaos that he had found existed during the wonderful time period of 7:30 to 9:00 AM and then the rest of the day. However, an eyebrow rose when he entered the room and instead of finding thirty-two mutants (the Brotherhood and Acolyte teams, plus Evan, had decided the day before to hang around for a bit longer before returning to their respective homes) he found only Logan and Ororo, both of whom were sitting at the table drinking coffee, Ororo looking horrible while Logan looked the same as he usually did; unconcerned with reality around him. However, what he found interesting was that instead of the two of them being involved with separate things they were talking quietly to each other.

"Ororo, are you alright, my dear?" Xavier asked as he moved so that he was sitting across from Ororo in his usual spot.

Ororo looked up from her conversation with Logan and, smiling at Xavier said, "I am fine, Charles. Just a little tired; that's all." She then took a sip of her coffee, which Xavier sensed was unusually strong for her, as Ororo liked hers a light brown. Shrugging it off to Ororo's admittance of exhaustion Xavier nodded and turned his attention to Logan, who to his amusement had buried himself behind the newspaper in an attempt to hide the fact that he had a cigar clenched between his teeth; something Xavier had seen as soon as he had entered the kitchen.

"Logan, must I tell you again that smoking is prohibited in the kitchen and dining area?" Xavier said, placing his hands in their typical "steeple" position.

Logan put down the paper and, taking the cigar out of his mouth crushed the lit end in his hand, the burn left healing quickly. "There ya go, Chuck. No more cigar smoke, although I don't see why I can't smoke it here today as no one's even gotten out of bed yet."

Ororo looked at Logan and said, "Either way, Logan, the smoke will contaminate the food left out and you will be responsible for getting the children sick should they consume the smoke-infested food."

Logan looked at Ororo and remarked, "Then I guess the kids'll have to learn to put their junk food away and not leave it out where it can get contaminated, won't they?"

Ororo arched an eyebrow and, smiling, shot back, "Touché, Logan." She then returned to her coffee and Logan put the cigar in his back pocket, getting up to get himself more coffee.

"Want some, Chuck?" Logan asked, getting out another mug in preparation. On getting an affirmative Logan poured Xavier a cup of coffee and brought it, along with milk and sugar over to the table, setting them in front of Xavier and then choosing to lean against the counter rather than sit down again.

Xavier filed away the conversation he had just witnessed, along with the fact that Logan had listened to his request for putting out the cigar and not ignored him like he usually did in the back of his mind. However, what really intrigued Xavier was the way in which Logan and Ororo were interacting; it was friendly banter that held another level to it that he hadn't been able to discover yet and frankly he was interested in finding out what was being hidden just beneath the surface.

"Logan, Ororo. You will have the privilege of hosting a Danger Room session for Kitty, Rogue, Bobby, Jubilee, Ray, Amara, Sam, Tabitha, Alex, Lorna, Evan, Danielle, Lexie, the Maximoff twins, Ms. Braddock, Mr. Worthington, Mr. Alvers, Mr. LeBeau, and Mr. Allerdyce this afternoon at three. Is that okay with you?" Xavier said, dumping two spoonfuls of sugar and some milk into his coffee while looking at his two instructors with an arched eyebrow.

Logan and Ororo looked at each other and Ororo asked, "But Charles, why so many students and why not everyone?" Logan was appraising Xavier, his mind trying to work out a reason why Xavier was giving Ororo and himself the honor of overseeing the session.

"The reason, my friends, is that all of those whom I mentioned were out past curfew and all of them failed the breath test; meaning all of them returned with high amounts of alcohol in their systems. Now, you both know that I am not fond of violence being the punishment for when a rule is broken but this time it cannot be helped. Do we understand each other?" Xavier said, ending his speech with a question, which Logan grinned at, knowing he had done it purposely to show that he was serious.

"Gotcha loud and clear, Chuck. However, don't ya think that they should all be up and stampeding down here for breakfast?" Logan asked, taking a sip of his coffee once more.

Xavier smiled and replied, "Oh, I believe that they will be down soon, Logan. And when they do arrive do tell them about their punishment, would you?" Logan and Ororo nodded and from that moment on silence reigned in the kitchen, with not a sound being heard beyond the typical noises one would normally hear at breakfast.

**_Living Room, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 2006, 8:20 AM _**

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the three adults in the kitchen Roberto and Rahne had gotten up at five in the morning, gotten breakfast, then wiped all traces of their having been in the kitchen away so that Logan couldn't detect them. They had then set up most of their big plans already and all they had left to do was what they were taking care of currently. So, as the conversation occurred in the kitchen Roberto and Rahne had taken up residency behind the large sofa in the room and had spread in front of them a multitude of envelopes, sharpies, and photographs that Rahne had printed out from her camera in the computer lab hours earlier.

"So, 'Berto, who should we do in first?" Rahne asked her boyfriend, a "cat who ate the canary grin" on her face as she put on rubber gloves so that their scent couldn't be detected. Rahne was just as excited as Roberto was at the prospect of getting back at her teammates, especially Bobby and Jubilee, who had just lately pranked them and they had deemed that revenge was necessary.

Roberto didn't answer his girlfriend's inquiry at first, his eyes roaming over the photographs in front of him, looking for the best ones to use while he also put on rubber gloves. After a minute he looked at Rahne and, smirking, replied, "Well, my dear Rahne, I believe that we shall do in Bobby and Jubes first; they have it coming, don't they?"

Rahne nodded and reaching over Roberto picked up a photograph that showed the two aforementioned mutants in a very compromising position. "Ay think tha' this one'll do for them," Rahne commented, tilting her head to the side and grinning when she saw how Bobby would view it.

Roberto nodded sagely and replied, "My thoughts exactly, Wolfie. Let's see… envelopes with each of their names on them, the photo… wait, did you make multiples of each photo?" Roberto sighed in relief as Rahne produced a large manila envelope labeled "Doubles" and, grinning, took it and extracted a copy of the photo Rahne had picked up. He then put one copy of the photograph in each envelope and then brought out another large manila envelope and, smirking, carefully withdrew two identical notes that had been typed on the computer and inserted one into each envelope. He then sealed it and gave it to Rahne, who placed it in a plastic bag that she then sealed tight; a double precaution so that they wouldn't be found out.

They then moved through their list, next tackling Alex and Lorna's envelopes, doing to them and all that followed the same tactics they had done with Bobby and Jubilee's envelopes. After the fourth one was done Roberto and Rahne did Sam and Tabitha's, Ray and Amara's, and Lance and Kitty's. At John and Wanda's both had seriously considered not following through due to the risk of setting Wanda off but after much debate—a minute a most—they decided it had to be done followed by Remy and Rogue's, Pietro and Lexie's, Warren and Betsy's, and Evan and Danielle's. Once these were all done they moved on to the last two couples whom they knew ran a high risk.

Rahne bit her lip and said, "'Berto, is it wise tae piss off Logan? Ay mean, the man's got a temper and if we push it off the edge…" she trailed off as her ears moved towards the doorway, signaling Roberto to be silent, her hearing having picked up approaching footsteps. Glancing at each other they abandoned their workstation, stuffing everything underneath the sofa, leaped up over the couch and settled themselves in the cushions, taking off their gloves and hiding them behind their backs and doing their best to appear natural. They accomplished this just in time as Hank, Sean, Moira, and Forge walked past the living room, all headed for the kitchen.

Moira glanced in and on seeing her adopted daughter and Roberto on the couch she stopped Sean and nodded her head in their direction. Sean looked up and grinned, leaning down to whisper to Moira, "They're actin' like we did when we were younger, don' ye think?"

Moira nodded and responded, "Aye, but then again, it is rare tae see them up so early. Ay think tha' somethin's up; don't ye think, Sean?" Sean paused a moment and nodded his head no.

"I can' say tha' I do, Moira. I think tha' they're just enjoyin' the peace and solitude tha' comes from no one else claimin' the room." Sean responded, gently pulling Moira away from the door and towards the kitchen. "And now, lass, if we don' hurry there'll be no more breakfast left fer us!" Moira smiled and, shrugging off her suspicions followed her husband off to the kitchen where they could hear Hank and Forge arguing over some new invention Forge had just finished and wanted to try out as soon as possible, to which they could hear Hank telling him no vehemently.

Once the adults were gone Roberto and Rahne looked at each other and sighed in relief, both thinking how close they had come to blowing their cover. Putting back on their gloves they moved back behind the couch and continued their work, finishing up the last two envelopes and then stashing their copies in the backpack Rahne had brought with her.

"When do we strike?" Roberto asked, looking at his watch and seeing that it was exactly 8:45 AM. He looked over at his girlfriend, who was busy getting together the stack of envelopes and putting away the extra materials.

After a few moments Rahne looked up and responded, "We strike at 9:30 AM; tha's when Ay calculated tha' due tae the massive amounts of alcohol they all chugged last night their minds will be messed up the worst and they'll be forced tae get up and get headache relief. Let's get in position, shall we?"

Roberto nodded and Rahne gave him the stack of envelopes for the boys' rooms while Rahne kept the ones for the girls' rooms. They had decided to tackle the last two couples after the others had been done, which they had assured themselves would be more of a finish than anything else. With these thoughts the two blackmailers set off for their targets, ready to do in their teammates and friends.

_**Bottom of the Staircase, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 2006, 9:29 AM**_

Roberto and Rahne were currently situated at the bottom of the grand staircase that led to the second floor of the mansion; grins on their faces as they sat on the last step. Looking at Rahne Roberto asked, "Shall we count down?"

Rahne grinned and replied, "But of course. Let's see… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… now!"

Their grins grew wider to encompass their faces when they heard a multitude of screams and curses issuing from the second floor, the higher pitched ones from the east wing and the lower, gruff voices from the west wing. When Roberto and Rahne heard footsteps coming their way they quickly changed their expressions from glee and enthusiasm to shock and surprise.

Xavier and the instructors came careening around the corner and skidded to a halt when they saw Roberto and Rahne staring up the stairs, surprised looks on their faces. "What's wrong, Roberto, Rahne?" Xavier asked, concern in his voice.

Roberto and Rahne turned around and Rahne said, "It's not us, Professor. It's everyone upstairs." Rahne turned her head to look up the stairs again and said, "Ay hope they're okay."

Xavier replied, "They will be fine, Rahne. Logan, Ororo, Forge, Hank, Moira, and Sean; we must go and see what's wrong with everyone. Ororo, Moira, and Sean will take the east wing while Logan, Forge, and Hank will take the west wing. I will take the main wing. We will then report back to the landing to report on what's wrong. Understood?" On getting nods from all of the instructors Xavier gave them the signal to investigate and while he went for the elevator everyone else took the stairs three at a time and then spilt up into their groups.

Roberto and Rahne watched the happenings with concerned expressions on their faces but once the adults had reached the second floor and separated they turned to each other and grinned evilly. "Shall we set up our last trap?" Roberto asked and Rahne, who had been digging in her backpack for the envelope they needed looked at him and, grinning, replied, "Aye, let's do it."


	2. The East Wing

**A/N: **I would like to clear up one thing before you continue reading this story. Don't get me wrong; I understand that some of you are a little concerned that Roberto and Rahne are being mean and cruel… however, they are only doing this to get back at everyone who's pranked them in the past. They haven't had any evidence or well-thought out plans until now and so now their revenge starts… Now that I'm done lecturing enjoy!

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

'_blah…' _-telepathy/what people say mentally

**Chapter 2: The East Wing**

**_Room #1, East Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville NY, USA—June 9, 9:39 AM_**

Once Moira, Sean, and Ororo reached the East Wing they spilt up, each person taking charge of two of the six occupied rooms. Moira took rooms one and two, Sean three and four, and Ororo five and six. Moira came to room one but when she tried to open the door she found she couldn't. Ramming her shoulder finally got the door loosened enough for her to open and when she stepped inside she froze in shock. Both Kitty and Rogue, whom she knew had come in late the night before drunk, were covered head-to-toe in black and pink silly string, only their eyes and mouths showing. Six cans for each color lay suspended in mid-air, obviously empty, and both of them were screaming in shock and frustration as they tried to get the stuff off.

"Rogue, Kitty, wha's goin' on here?" Moira demanded, stepping into the room and sidestepping bits of silly string that had missed their targets.

Rogue looked up and replied, "Moira, thank gawd yah're here! Kit and Ah just woke up and as soon as we tried ta get up this… this stuff exploded on us and it's stickin' ta us!" Kitty nodded in total agreement with her roommate, an action that soon caused her to groan and place a hand to her forehead in pain.

"I knew I shouldn't, like, have had that last shot!" Kitty exclaimed, trying to vainly suppress the headache she felt coming on but she soon let out a scream as she tried to phase the silly string off but couldn't as it seemed to be permanently stuck and was completely ruining her concentration.

Moira looked back and forth between the two and sighed, muttering, "Ay should nae have gotten out of bed this morning." She then shook her head and moved to help take off the silly string but stopped when she stepped on something. Looking down she saw two envelopes in plastic bags, one labeled "Rogue" and one labeled "Kitty". Frowning, Moira bent down and picked them up, examining them with a scientist's eyes. "Girls, did ye notice these envelopes?" she asked Rogue and Kitty, both of whom managing to take off some of the silly string so that more their skin was visible.

Both nodded no and when Moira went to open them she thought better of it and, giving each envelope to their respectful owners said, "Ay have tae go and check on the others; ye try and get cleaned up before tha' stuff gets stuck on ye permanently." Moira then left the room to go to room two, leaving Kitty and Rogue to try and get the silly string off them before it gave them new complexions.

**_Room #2, East Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville NY, USA—June 9, 9:45 AM_**

Moira entered room two, fully expecting to see more silly string but once inside she was surprised again as she saw two hoses that had been rigged from the outside to spray their contents at Jubilee and Lorna, who were screaming in pain. Moira wondered why the girls were screaming; after all, the water in the hoses was kept at a specific temperature by Ororo as she sometimes used it to water her plants when she didn't feel like using her powers to take care of the foliage. However, on taking a closer look she realized with shock that it was freezing cold water.

"This is nae good…" Moira muttered and, running in grabbed the two hoses and yanked them out of the string that they had been sitting in. She dragged the hoses over to the balcony window and on kicking it open threw the hoses over the railing, allowing the water to shoot towards the ground, where a large mud puddle was rapidly forming. She then ran back inside and letting her medical side take over groaned when she saw that both girls' skin was bright red from the force of the water hitting it. Running over to them she noticed water bottles on Jubilee's nightstand and, hoping that they were filled with lukewarm water she dumped the contents of one of the bottles on Jubilee and the other on Lorna. Both sighed in relief as the water warmed them up, taking away some of the pain that had come with being attacked by freezing cold water as soon as they woke up.

Moira stepped back and, looking between them asked, "Let me guess—ye woke up and when ye went tae get up the hoses turned on and soaked ye, right?" When both nodded yes Moira sighed and held a hand to her forehead, muttering curses under her breath.

Jubilee piped up and said, "Dr…. Dr. MacTaggert could you… you get us our… our comforters?" Her teeth rattled with intense cold and both she and Lorna watched as Moira walked over to one of their closets—per Lorna's directions—and opened the door. She took down from the top shelf a bright yellow and black comforter followed by a blue and green one and gave them to their owners, wrapping them up tightly so that they could try and get warm.

Moira stepped back and once more she stepped on something that sounded like plastic. Leaning down she found two envelopes identical to the ones in Rogue and Kitty's room but they had Jubilee and Lorna's names on them. Frowning, Moira looked up at the two shivering girls and asked, "Girls, did ye notice these?"

Lorna spoke, shivering violently as she did so. "No… no Dr. Mac… MacTaggert. We just… just woke up… up and were… were bombarded… bombarded with water." Lorna wrapped the comforter around her tighter, hoping to get warmer. Moira gave the envelopes to their owners and then, looking at them thought about what to do next.

"Girls, listen; Ay have tae go and meet with the other instructors but ye need tae get into a warm shower right away before ye catch hypothermia." Moira then left the room, leaving behind two shivering girls, and made her way to the second floor landing to meet up with the other instructors.

**_Room #3, East Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:39 AM_**

Meanwhile, Sean had found that the door to room three was locked and deciding to forgo necessities rammed his shoulder into the door, causing it to fall to the floor, the hinges broken. Upon entering he saw that only Danielle was in the room, Rahne's bed empty because she was downstairs. Sean immediately saw what was wrong—at least six amp systems were connected to each other and all were blasting rock music at high volumes at Danielle, who was curled into a ball to try and block out the sound.

Sean looked for a switch to turn off the sound but after finding nothing shrugged and deftly took out the amps one by one so that by the time he was finished all that was left of them were pieces of metal and wiring on the floor. Danielle's screaming died down to sobs as she tried to deal with the pain of having loud music assault her when she had a major headache from the alcohol she'd consumed the night before.

Sean knelt beside Dani and, gently putting a hand on her shoulder said, "Dani, it's me, Sean Cassidy. Are ye okay, lass?"

Dani's sobs quieted and, slowly rising to a sitting position dried her tears and responded, "I'm… I'm fine, Mr. Cassidy… it's just I woke up and when I moved the music just started and I… I couldn't handle it. I… I cracked and I collapsed… who would do something like that?"

Sean sighed and replied, "I don' rightly know, lass, but believe me when I say tha' we will find out." He patted Dani's shoulder and moved to start picking up pieces of the amps he had destroyed when he noticed a plastic bag with a manila envelope inside with Dani's name on it. Frowning, Sean picked it up and turning to Dani asked, "Dani, did ye notice this bag on the floor?"

Dani nodded her head no and asked, wincing in pain from the major headache she was getting, "What's in it, Mr. Cassidy?"

Sean shook his head no and said, "Nae, I don' know, Dani. It's yer envelope; ye open it." He handed it to Dani and then added, "I have to go and check on the next room's occupants; ye get dressed and come see me later fer some help with yer headache." Sean then left the room and went to the next one, leaving Dani on her bed, the envelope in front of her.

**_Room #4, East Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:47 AM_**

When Sean entered room four he had to duck to avoid one of Tabitha's bombs and one of Amara's lava streams. "Wha' I don' understand is why Charles put these two together," Sean muttered under his breath before taking a deep breath and letting out a short sonic scream that got him the attention of the room's occupants.

"Mr. Cassidy, please stop!" Amara screamed, not noticing that he had and when she did notice added sheepishly, "Oh, you did. Thanks." Sean found himself staring at the two girls who had what appeared to be entire buckets of gum in their hair, pink for Tabitha and white for Amara, and they were also covered in what appeared to be mayonnaise.

Tabby looked up and said, "Banshee, hey! Do me a favor: punish Amara for doin' this to me, would ya?" Tabby motioned to herself then glared at her roommate, who glared right back at her.

"Mr. Cassidy, why would I cover Tabitha in gum and mayonnaise when I'm covered in it too?" Amara asked, trying to be the logical one.

Tabby sneered and replied, "Oh, you just covered yourself to throw the blame off you!"

The two girls began bickering again, which caused Sean to groan and slap a hand to his face. He screamed again and this time, before either girl could speak again Sean ground out, "Do ye want me to scream again, lasses? 'Cause I can and will if ye don' stop!" This got Tabby and Amara to shut up and as Sean looked around he noticed a bucket, one above each of the beds that had remnants of gum in it and two large squirt-bottles rigged to either side of the beds, the containers for the mayonnaise that now covered Tabby and Amara.

"Let me guess," Sean asked wearily, turning his eyes to Tabby and Amara, "Ye both woke up and the gum and mayo was dumped on ye, causin' yer current conditions, right?"

Tabby blinked and said, "Wow, you're good Banshee!" Amara nodded in agreement and before she could speak Tabby asked, "So 'Mara, if I didn't do this and you didn't do this then who did?"

Sean answered, "Well, Tabitha, tha's what we're tryin' to figure out. Ye're both not the only victims." Sean paused to continue but then noticed two envelopes on the ground, both the same as the one in Dani's room but with Tabby and Amara's names on them. Frowning, Sean picked them up and said, "Do ye know who sent these to ye?"

Both girls nodded their heads no and Amara remarked, "Maybe they're from the prankster?"

Sean shrugged and said, "I don' rightly know, lasses. Here, they belong to ye and ye should see wha's in them then come and tell me. In the meantime, ye both need to get cleaned up and try to get the gum out o' yer hair." Then, before Tabby and Amara could start fighting again Sean had given them their envelopes and left the room. On his way to the landing he muttered, "I knew tha' I shouldn' have gotten out o' bed this morning. Boyo, ye had the chance to avoid this but no, ye chose to get up and greet the new day, didn' ye?

**_Room #5, East Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:39 AM_**

When Ororo entered room five she had to cover her mouth in surprise and shock at the sight she was met with. Lexie was currently hanging upside down, with what appeared to be handcuffs keeping her arms behind her and her feet connected by a piece of rope that was hanging from the light fixture on the ceiling. What really got to Ororo though was the fact that Lexie's bed was covered in what appeared to be engine oil and Lexie herself was covered in a mixture of ketchup and mustard.

"Child, whatever in the world happened?" Ororo asked, moving so that she was directly in front of Lexie.

Lexie snorted and responded, "Let's see… I woke up and jumped out of bed and heard a noise behind me. I turned around and saw that my bed was completely covered in engine oil. I backed up, arms behind me, thinking that something was going to grab me from the direction of my bed but I backed into a pair of handcuffs that were timed to close around my wrists as soon as they made contact. I couldn't get my arms back over my head to get the damn handcuffs off and as I was struggling to get the handcuffs off I walked into this trap. The rope grabbed my ankles and hoisted me to the ceiling where two large squirt-bottles got me with ketchup and mustard. Now you know the whole story, Storm. I just have one request—get me the hell down from here!"

Ororo nodded and, as her eyes turned white she said, "Lexie, this may hurt a bit…" Ororo then lifted her hand and sent a bolt of lightning at the rope, severing it instantly. This allowed Lexie to fall to the ground where she let out a few choice curses as she landed face first.

Ororo knelt behind Lexie and removed the handcuffs; hey, her thieving skills from when she was little sure came in handy. Once Lexie's hands were free Ororo helped her to her feet and went over to where the closet was and, grabbing a towel handed it to Lexie, who began to clean off her face.

"Thanks, Storm," Lexie said, doing her best to not let any of the mixture touch her eyes and when she brought her hair around so that she could see it cursed and said, "Damn, my hair's screwed up!"

Ororo nodded and examined the traps, thinking, 'Whoever did this knew exactly what Lexie would do and predicted every move. They are very skilled, I must say.' One of her eyebrows rose when she saw a plastic bag that was half-covered in ketchup and mustard lying on the ground. Upon picking it up the eyebrow rose further when she saw that there was a manila envelope inside, addressed to Lexie. "Child, I think you should see this."

Lexie moved to where Ororo was and like the weather witch an eyebrow rose when she saw the envelope. "I didn't know I had this in my room… who the hell do you think sent it?"

Choosing to ignore Lexie's language Ororo replied, "I have not the faintest notion, my dear. However, I think that you should open it and see what's inside. I have to go and see what's going on in the next room." Lexie nodded and, taking the bag from Ororo threw it on her bed where it laid, the name staring up at Lexie accusingly, making her nervous. Ororo left the room, moving on to the next one, not sure what she would find upon entering.

**_Room #6, East Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:50 AM_**

When Ororo entered room six she had to duck to avoid Wanda's hexes and Betsy's psychic knives, all of which were being thrown across the room in an insane version of tennis. Ororo's eyes turned completely white and she yelled, "Enough!" Thunder cracked outside, followed by a rather large bolt of lightning that occurred just outside the bay window.

Wanda and Betsy, who had been given the room to stay in while they were attending the Institute for Todd's graduation, looked up at Ororo and instantly stopped, both knowing that it wasn't wise to face a pissed off Storm; especially when said mutant was five feet away from them. Wanda's hands lost their blue glow and Betsy got rid of the handful of psychic knives she had been preparing to fire at Wanda.

Ororo's eyes returned to their normal blue and she let out a breath and said, "Now then, what is going on in here?"

Wanda blinked and snapped, "What's going on, Storm, is that my hair is now bright, neon pink!" When Ororo looked at Wanda she had to stop herself from laughing; Wanda's black and red hair was now bright, neon pink. Wanda glared at Ororo and added, "When I find out who did this to me I swear that I'll kill them!" She crossed her arms and glared across the room at Betsy, who was glaring back.

"Alright, Wanda, I completely sympathize with your circumstances but I must know: did you find this out when you woke up?" Wanda nodded yes and Ororo groaned, placing a hand over her eyes. "Betsy, child, what's wrong with you?"

Betsy took her attention off Wanda and, turning to Ororo said, "Look, I can deal with getting pink hair; I can just dye it back but unfortunately that's not what happened with me. Luv, I cannot say how disgusted I am when I think of how I was so stupid to trip the wire that caused this to happen!"

Ororo looked at Betsy and had to once more stop herself from laughing. Betsy was covered head to toe in what appeared to be a combination of Remy's gumbo from yesterday's dinner and white feathers. Ororo covered her mouth and said, "Dear me, Elisabeth, we need to get you cleaned up before that mixture becomes stuck in your hair. And Wanda, I will help you with your hair later. In the meantime, do any of you see any envelopes in here?"

Wanda raised an eyebrow and replied, "Storm, the mail doesn't come this early. Hell, if I know my brother—and I do—he's probably already waiting at the gates to greet the mail deliverer and if it's a female to hit on her and if it's a male to scare him off." Ororo made a mental note to tell Logan to not let Pietro anywhere near the gates of the Institute during the time period that the mail arrived and, bending to look at the floor, spotted the plastic bags that she knew would be in the room. Picking them up she noted that they looked exactly the same as the one in Lexie's room did except they had Wanda and Betsy's names on them.

"Girls, I believe that these belong to you," commented Ororo as she moved to deliver the envelopes to their owners. However, she didn't see the clear wire in front of her so when she hit it a signal was sent to a bucket above her head and before either Wanda or Betsy could warn Ororo a bucket of black gunk was dumped on her, covering her head-to-toe.

"Dear Lord, Storm, are you okay?" Betsy asked, getting off her bed, Wanda doing the same. Ororo lifted up her hands and gave Betsy and Wanda their bags, now covered in the substance, and brought her hands up to clear away the gunk from in front of her eyes.

Once she had done that she turned to the girls and said, "Girls, get cleaned up and come downstairs as soon as possible. Betsy, I recommend a hot shower with lots of soap and shampoo and Wanda, I will help you get your hair back to normal after you have eaten. Also, do open your envelopes and tell me what their contents are. If you will excuse me I must go and report to the other instructors what has happened here. I must also go and try to get some of this off of me."

Ororo then left the room, leaving a stunned Wanda and Betsy looking after her. "Damn, that Storm is something else entirely," Wanda whispered, Betsy nodding in absolute agreement. Ororo walked down the hallway, ignoring the whispers and looks she was getting from the other girls as they prepared to go and get cleaned up in the bathrooms.

"Ororo, what happened?" Kitty asked, Rogue right behind her. Ororo didn't answer and continued to make her way to the landing. Kitty and Rogue watched her go and Kitty said, "I think she's, like, angry or something."

Rogue rolled her eyes and grimaced as she managed to pull off more silly string, leaving a stinging sensation behind. "Of course she's angry, Kit. She had that disgustin' gunk all over her. Ah just hope that tha person that did this gets punished; severely."


	3. The West Wing

**A/N: **… I honestly have no valid excuse for making you guys wait so long… actually I do. Blame the top-heavy homework pile I have to work through every day… anyway, enjoy!!!

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

'_blah…' _-telepathy/what people say mentally

**Chapter 3: The West Wing**

**_Room #21, West Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:39 AM_**

Once Forge, Hank, and Logan had reached the West Wing they spilt up, with them playing a three-way game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who'd be the lucky one to get two rooms; Hank and Logan glared angrily at Forge as he came out victorious. Forge got rooms twenty-one and twenty-two, Hank took rooms twenty-three to twenty-five, and Logan took rooms twenty-six to twenty-eight. As Forge approached room twenty-one he could swear that he heard a long string of curses, some which he had never heard coming from the room. Forge went to the door, and preparing himself for what would come, opened the door only to be confronted with a bone spike headed his way. Yelping Forge ducked and shuddered as he heard the projectile implant itself in the wall outside in the hallway.

"Forge, dude, I am so sorry!" Evan exclaimed as he saw whom he had almost hit. Evan winced when he heard Forge whimpering in fear from his position on the ground. Crossing his arms Evan said, "Forge, you're not hurt, get to your feet and help me out here."

Forge looked up and what he saw almost caused him to burst out laughing but remembering Evan's short temper refrained from doing so; externally, that is. Evan was standing next to his bed, his feet covered in a white substance he could only assume was glue as Evan couldn't move, and his bone armor was covered in what appeared to be more glue—this time a dark brown color—and dead, red leaves. Forge got to his feet and, moving towards Evan said, "Evan, dude, what happened here?"

Evan glared at Forge and replied, "Let's see… I woke up, stepped out of bed, and felt my feet step into something wet and sticky. When I tried to move I found that I couldn't move a damn inch. After thinking for a few moments…"

Here Forge interrupted by dryly saying, "You mean letting out a string of curses that I know your aunt wouldn't like to hear?"

Evan averted his eyes and didn't answer Forge's question, choosing to continue with what he had been saying, "I then tried to take out a bone spike so I could pry myself loose but I then noticed that I was covered in this shit! I tried to send a spike at the ground but I missed my intended target and almost, um, impaled you."

Forge rolled his eyes and turning to see what was wrong with the other occupant blinked when he saw that Kurt was still sleeping peacefully, his head turned toward the wall.

Evan noticed where Forge was looking and, rolling his eyes said, "Yeah, I saw that Kurt didn't get pranked or anything so I'm thinking that maybe Kurt did this whole set-up." Forge shook his head and, looking at Evan, knelt and examined the glue that held Evan in place.

"If I free you from the glue you have to promise to not harm Kurt; at least, not until we get to the bottom of this; promise?" Forge asked, looking at Evan for confirmation. Sighing in defeat Evan nodded yes and then got a pissed-off look on his face when he found that he couldn't get his arms out of the crossed position across his chest. Forge nodded and, changing his right arm into a drill, managed to set Evan free after a few minutes of intense work.

Evan stepped out of the mess of hardened glue and once Forge had gotten to his feet asked, "Could you get my arms free too?" Forge nodded and carefully freed Evan, being very careful to not injure him. Once Forge had finished he moved over to Kurt, intending on waking up the teleporter and asking him if he had pranked Evan when he stepped on something. Looking down Forge saw a manila envelope inside a clear plastic bag with Evan's name on it.

Forge picked it up and, turning to Evan asked, "Evan, do you know who sent you this?" Evan nodded his head no and moved to look over Forge's shoulder, as he was now taller than the resident inventor.

Evan took it out of Forge's hand and, looking at it said, "I guess I should open it." Forge nodded and then remembering he had another room to look at turned to go.

He paused at the door and said, "Evan, I have to go and check the next room; in the meantime you should try and get the glue and leaves off your armor before they become a permanent fixture. Also, tell me what the envelope says later, will you?" Forge then left, leaving Evan to open the envelope while Kurt continued sleeping, completely oblivious to what had just happened.

**_Room #22, West Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:50 AM_**

When Forge reached room twenty-two, he remembered what had happened with Evan and, being careful, opened the door then hid on the wall outside the door, wanting to preserve his life. When nothing came flying out Forge looked in and groaned on what he was seeing—Bobby was screaming in pain while Sam was silently trying to untangle himself from something that Forge didn't see at first. Bobby was being sprayed with what looked like water from one of Ororo's hoses, something that Forge couldn't figure out. How in the hell did Ororo's hose get up here to the second floor? Meanwhile, Sam was trying to untangle himself from what appeared to be dark red silly string that had closed off everything on his body except for his eyes and nose; so Sam was still breathing, something Forge was extremely glad to see.

Forge entered the room and when Bobby saw him screamed, "God, Forge, get this damn water off me! It burns!" Then Bobby, in the dramatic fashion that he was known for, showed Forge the temperature of the water by putting on his ice armor and Forge watched in pure and unadulterated shock as the ice instantly melted, joining an already large puddle on the carpet of the room.

Forge ran over to Bobby and, cursing, took hold of the hose and dragged it over to the doors leading to the balcony. He then proceeded to kick them open and then tossed the hose down on the ground, where it writhed with the water being shot out of it, the target of which happened to be Ororo's prize roses. Wincing, Forge thought, 'Damn, that isn't good… Ororo's going to kill me…'

Forge then heard Bobby screaming again and, groaning ran back inside where he saw that Bobby was trying to put ice armor on himself. However, the armor was failing to stay, as his skin was so hot from the water that the ice couldn't find any decently cold water molecules to cling to and form the armor. Forge looked around and saw a miniature fridge in the corner of the room. Running over to it Forge opened it and sighed in relief as he saw five bottles of ice cold water. Grabbing them he ran over to Bobby and dumped them over Bobby, who sighed in relaxation as the cold took over and dissipated the hotness that the hose had caused earlier. Forge then turned his attention to Sam, who was still struggling to free himself from the silly string. Running over Forge turned his arm into a rather large pair of scissors, which caused fear to enter Sam's eyes.

"Don't worry, dude, I'm not going to cut ya," Forge commented as he carefully took hold of the string on Sam's mouth and with precision that came from being a doctor cut away the string. Sam was soon sighing in relief, his mouth now free of the silly string that had once impeded it. Forge then cut Sam's hands free and retracted the scissors, and moving so that both Bobby and Sam could see and hear him said, "Alright, guys, let me guess: you woke up and were attacked, right?" On getting affirmative nods from the teens Forge groaned and, covering his eyes said, "Damn, I knew that I shouldn't have taken this room…"

Sam got to his feet and, after ripping off some more silly string spotted two bags on the floor. "Forge, what are those?" Forge's head snapped up and on looking where Sam was pointing frowned and picked up the bags. Like Evan's, they had manila envelopes in them but with Bobby and Sam's names on them.

"They're for you guys," Forge said, handing Sam one bag and giving Bobby, who now had a thin layer of ice on him to cool down his skin, his. He then went to the door and before he left he turned to them and said, "Alright, guys, I think that you need to get yourselves cleaned up; Bobby, take a shower and Sam, try and get that stuff off before it sticks to you. I need to go and talk to Logan and Hank." Forge then left and after closing the door groaned and muttered, "I need something to drink; something nice and strong…"

**_Room #23, West Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:39 AM_**

As Hank made his way to room twenty-three he was desperately trying not to think of what he was going to find behind the door; he didn't feel like going to the infirmary before eleven in the morning. Hank reached the door and, opening it expected to find blood spattered on the walls. He breathed a loud sigh of relief as he saw that there was no blood to be found on the walls but groaned when he saw what was going on in the room. Alex was trying not to scream as he felt all the blood rushing to his head, the result of hanging upside down from a rope that was attached to the surfboard he had hanging just at the end of his bed. Alex was also covered in what appeared (and smelled) to Hank to be mayonnaise.

"Mr. Masters, how in the world did you end up like that?" Hank asked, entering the room and looking at Alex, who smiled sheepishly.

"Well, Mr. McCoy, let's just say that I 'tripped over my own feet' when I got out bed," Alex replied, hoping that he wouldn't have to tell Hank the whole story. However, on seeing Hank's look Alex sighed and amended, "Well, I got out of bed, walked around to the bottom and stumbled, due to the headache I kind of have at the moment, and then I felt something wrapping itself around my ankles. I screamed as I was dragged up to the ceiling and then when the rope stopped this stuff got sprayed on me!"

Hank sighed and, judging the angle he would have to take to get Alex down ran and leaped into the air. He grabbed the rope and, snapped it between his hands and caught Alex before he hit the ground, trying to not show how he felt at getting mayonnaise on his hands. Once he had gotten Alex down he untied him and, going to the closet that was across from the other bed in the room—Roberto's, Hank remembered—grabbed some towels and tossed a few to Alex, taking one for himself to get rid of the stuff on his hands. Once Hank had cleaned his hands he walked towards the door and stepped on something that caught his attention. Frowning, Hank bent down and retrieved it, turning it over and his eyes narrowed when he saw that Alex's name was on the front. "Alex, I think this is yours."

Alex, who had been muttering under his breath about his now white hair, looked up and when he saw the bag frowned and took it from Hank's hand, examining it. "What's in it, Mr. McCoy?"

Hank shrugged and said, "I don't know Alex, but when you do open it be sure to tell me what its contents are. I have to go and check on your friends; might I suggest a hot shower with plenty of soap?" Alex nodded and Hank left the room, heading to the next one.

**_Room #24, West Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:47 AM_**

When Hank entered room twenty-four he had to duck as a stream of Ray's electricity flew over his head and collided with Jamie, who vanished and reappeared on the other side of the room. "Why me?" Hank muttered under his breath, not at all surprised at the scene. Hank got to his feet and, coming into the room yelled, "Raymond, stop!"

Ray looked at Hank and shot back, "It's Ray, Mr. McCoy, and I won't stop because Jamie did this to me!" Ray then pointed at his hair, which Hank saw was now bright neon green with hot pink streaks in it. Hank also noticed that Ray had what appeared to be chocolate sauce with some nuts mixed in all over him, except his face, which was the only part of the teen that was clean. Hank then looked over at Jamie's side of the room and blinked in shock, silently sending a prayer of thanks up to his deity that Jamie hadn't been hit at all; in fact, besides dodging Ray's electricity Jamie hadn't been touched.

"Mr. McCoy! Thank you for saving my life!" Jamie exclaimed, running over and shaking Hank's hand before moving past him and out the room. Ray glared after Jamie's retreating figure but soon turned his gaze to Hank, who had cleared his throat.

"Ray, if you would just answer yes or no to my question, did this happen as soon as you woke up?" Hank asked, and on getting a numb nod from Ray groaned and, moving to the closet next to Jamie's bed grabbed some towels and tossed them to Ray, saying, "I can assure you, Mr. Crisp, that Mr. Madrox is not to blame for this; his pranks are usually not this complicated. Even you have to admit that."

Ray nodded as he began to wipe the chocolate sauce off him, being careful to not get the stuff on the carpet, knowing Jean would have a fit and punish him with a Danger Room session if she found it. "I guess you're right, Mr. McCoy, and at first I thought it was Bobby but I figured that he'd be too dru…" Here Ray stopped speaking when he realized what he had been about to say and, turning to Hank, shrugged.

Hank smirked and finished, "I believe the word you're looking for, Mr. Crisp, is 'drunk'?" Ray cringed, causing Hank's smirk to widen. "I know all about last night and how you and your group of friends came home after curfew completely intoxicated. There is no need to lie about your actions, Mr. Crisp. Might I suggest a hot shower with plenty of soap to cleanse your skin of the chocolate coating?" Ray nodded and Hank moved to leave the room but he found a bag on the floor just near the door.

Hank picked up and on seeing that it had Ray's name on it said, "Ray, I think this belongs to you." He handed Ray the envelope and as Ray examined it Hank left the room, leaving Ray with the advice of taking a shower and telling Ray to go to Ororo later for help with his hair.

**_Room #25, West Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:58 AM_**

When Hank entered room twenty-five he saw that the room's occupants—Lance and Piotr—were both covered in some kind of gunk, although to be fair it appeared that Lance had more of it and Piotr had gotten it on him by trying to help Lance. "What happened here, boys?"

Lance and Piotr looked up and Piotr spoke for both of them, saying, "Mr. McCoy, when I got up I saw Lance was covered in this… stuff and when I tried to help him I got it on me; da, Lance?" Lance nodded and Hank saw that his mouth was covered in the black stuff but his nose and eyes were free.

Hank sighed and, moving towards Lance asked, "Lance, did this happen when you woke up?" Lance nodded and Hank groaned, putting a hand to his head. Motioning to Piotr to continue helping Lance Hank moved to the closet to get some towels. However, he didn't see the clear wire on the floor, located a few feet in front of the closet. As he walked into it a bag that had been almost invisible on the ceiling opened and a load of yellow and green feathers rained down and covered Lance and Piotr (the latter where the black stuff was), creating would-be birds. Hank continued on to the closet and after collecting a handful of towels turned around and when he saw the two teens said, "My stars and garters, what happened now?"

Lance, who with Piotr's help had gotten his mouth free replied, "This bag of damn feathers fell on us and now we look like damn parakeets!" Lance tried to take the feathers off but every time he got one off it floated down to another black spot on him and after a few minutes he gave up. Piotr was having more success with the task due to the fact that unlike Lance he wasn't completely covered in the black stuff, which Hank was strongly starting to suspect was a substance similar to what had been dumped on Ray.

Hank walked over to the two teens and handing them towels said, "All right, boys, I think you should try and get off as much as possible here before going to take a nice, long hot shower with plenty of soap to get that stuff off you. Afterwards come to the lab; I want to see if there will be any after-effects from this." Hank moved to leave when he spotted another plastic bag on the ground but like the previous room there was only one bag and it was addressed to Lance.

Piotr walked over to Hank and, looking at it asked, "What is that, Mr. McCoy?" Hank shrugged in reply, signaling to Piotr that the doctor had no clue. Piotr took the envelope and walked over to where Lance was making some progress on removing some of the stuff that was stuck to him and said, "Lance, this is yours, da?"

Lance looked up and on seeing the envelope in the bag said, "Why do you think it's mine? I've never seen it in my life." Lance's words confirmed what Hank had been suspecting since he had rescued Alex—someone, or something, was out to get those who had come home drunk last night.

Hank told Lance, "Well, Mr. Alvers, it's yours now and if you wouldn't mind, come and tell me what is in it upon opening it. In the meantime, get cleaned up. If you will excuse me, I have to go and meet with the other instructors." Hank then left the room and as the door closed behind him Hank muttered, "I wonder if Charles would let me join him in his weekly drinking session?"

**_Room #26, West Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:39 AM_**

As Logan made his way to the first room he was thinking about whom was in the room. "Damn it! I'm going to gut Forge! I get stuck with the Brotherhood, specifically Magneto's son." Growling, Logan reached room twenty-six and on opening it groaned when he saw who was in it. Remy was currently cursing in French as he tried to get a concoction that smelled like a mixture of pasta sauce, chopped garlic, and cayenne pepper off him, the mixture dripping onto the plush, white carpet that Jean had installed in the room. Meanwhile, his roommate John was screaming and whimpering as he shivered on his bed, wrapped in what appeared to be two comforters, towels, and the curtains from the room.

Logan shouted, "Shut the hell up, Cajun!" Remy stopped cursing and when he saw who was at the door he paled significantly. John heard Logan yell and sat up, making sure to keep the multitude of warming essentials (to him, anyway) up to his chin and Logan noted that John's hair wasn't its usual bright orange like usual; it was now a vibrant blue.

"Monsieur Wolverine, merci beaucoup for comin'!" Remy exclaimed, moving to hug Logan but stopped when he saw Logan unsheathe his claws. Gulping, Remy moved back to his starting point and stared at Logan, wondering what he was going to do.

Logan looked at Remy and then at John and noting that all the towels from the closet seemed to be on John's bed retracted his claws and moved towards the flame-manipulator. On getting there Logan reached for John's covers to pull them off when Remy ran over and stopped Logan.

"You don' want to do dat, Monsieur Wolverine; John may not have les vêtements (clothes) on underneath de covers," Remy explained seriously and Logan snorted and moved his hand from the covers to the towels, yanking them off John, getting a yelp of indignation from the Aussie at the action.

"Wot are you doin', mate?" John demanded, the covers still up to his chin. He turned to Remy and said, "You had no right to say that, Gambit! Oy do so have clothes on; see!" John flung back the covers to reveal the clothes from the day before, causing Logan to raise an eyebrow, a knowing look passing on the older mutant's face.

John then began to shiver and pulled the covers back over him and, turning to Logan said, "May Oy please have the towels back? Oy don' have enough heat to even keep moyself warm right now." Logan responded by tossing the towels to Remy, which earned him a nasty look from John that Logan just ignored.

Turning to Remy Logan said, "Cajun, you and Flame-boy here get cleaned up; wait a minute, what happened to him to make him a hibernatin' bear in summer?" Remy shrugged as he took one of the towels and began working on getting himself clean, starting with his face. Logan rolled his eyes and turned to John, who had been watching with his eyes half hidden beneath the covers. "Flame-boy, what happened?" Logan growled, to which John shivered again; this time very violently.

"Wot happened, mate, was that Oy woke up and when Oy moved moy arms a large thing of ice-cold water dumped itself… itself on me and Oy began shivering… shivering violently, 'cause Oy… Oy don' like cold water… water, and so Oy…Oy grabbed some warming ess… essentials to try and warm moyself up," John replied, his voice detailing his emotions and showing how cold he really was.

Logan turned to Remy and said, "Same deal with ya, Cajun?" Remy nodded yes, his hair pasted to his neck with spaghetti sauce acting as the agent between the skin and hair. Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "All right, here's what you're goin' to do. Both of you get showers in before comin' downstairs, Flame-boy, go see Storm about your hair, and then this afternoon you both have Danger Room sessions with Storm and me; got it?"

Logan moved to leave the room when he heard Remy exclaim, "Quoi?!! (What?!!) What are tu talkin' 'bout, Monsieur Wolverine? Remy and John don' belong to de X-Men so we don' have to be in de Danger Room." Logan turned around and marched back to Remy, sticking his face in Remy's face while ignoring the stench coming off Remy from the mixture on him. Remy, even though he was taller than Logan, shrunk back a little in fear.

"I don't care if you and Flame-boy aren't with the X-Men, bub. You both broke the rules that you agreed to when Chuck invited you to come and stay for Toad's graduation. Therefore, if ya break the rules here you deal with the punishment; got it?" Remy nodded quickly, not at all keen at having Wolverine in his face, and went back to getting himself cleaned up as best he could. Logan turned once more to leave but this time he noticed two plastic bags on the floor and his eyes narrowed. Picking them up he examined them and although he tried couldn't find the scent of the person who had left them. Turning them over he saw that they had the two teens' names on them.

"Here ya go; delivery," Logan said, tossing the bags at Remy and John, both of whom caught them with amazing speed. Logan then left the room, slamming the door shut behind him only to hear the French cursing start again and John yelling at Remy for revealing his secret.

**_Room #27, West Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:48 AM_**

When Logan entered room twenty-seven, he was met with a pair of sweatpants that smelled like Magneto. Growling, Logan ripped them of his face and, tossing them on the floor, surveyed the scene in front of him. Warren was currently using towels to try and get to what was on his wings—Logan could tell it was engine oil from the smell—but not succeeding as he was also trying to deal with the barrage of what appeared to be small bits of confetti which were sticking to almost every part of him. Meanwhile, Pietro was throwing his clothes out of the rather large suitcase he had brought with him in a rush, obviously looking for something. Logan noticed that Pietro seemed to be covered in a mixture which smelled like ketchup, mustard, peanut butter, jelly, and relish, along with some of the confetti that was also on Warren.

Logan cleared his throat, causing the two Brotherhood boys to look up at him, absolute fear plastered on their faces. Raising an eyebrow Logan motioned with his head to the pair of sweatpants that had hit the ground earlier and said, "Dare I ask whose these are or should I just confront the culprit?" Logan grinned savagely, causing the two teens to gulp in fear.

Before Logan could unsheathe his claws Pietro rushed up and said, "Umm, they're mine; see, I've been trying to find my special loofah to get this gunk off but Wing-Boy over there was distracting me." Pietro tried to continue but had to dash out of the way as Warren took a flying leap and tried to tackle him to the ground but he hit Logan instead; both went tumbling to the ground, Logan getting some of the confetti-engine oil mixture on him in the process. Growling, Logan stared up at Warren who backed off of Logan as quickly as he could, landing on his butt in the process.

"I'm… I'm… sorry, Wolverine, sir," Warren stammered, having heard things about the man in front of him from the other Brotherhood members and to be honest he was scared stiff of the man. "I… I was aiming for Pietro." Warren got to his feet and backed up slowly, believing that if he turned his back on Logan he'd die.

Logan got to his feet and ignoring the oil-confetti concoction on him looked at Warren and to the surprise of both Warren and Pietro cracked a small grin. "Completely understandable Wings; I would have done the same thing in your position." Logan then walked up to Warren and offered his hand in friendship and Warren, after a moment's hesitation took the proffered hand and shook it, Pietro gaping to Warren's side.

Pietro then knocked Warren out of the way and took Logan's hand, intending to shake it like Warren had done but instead Logan grabbed a fistful of his muscle tank—ignoring what was on it—and brought Pietro's face close to an inch of his own. Growling, Logan said, "Quicksilver, if I ever find out that you get my baby girl drunk again then I will personally come and train you every day for the rest of your life with five hours' worth of training sessions; got it?" Pietro gulped and nodded his head quickly, knowing if he didn't agree with the Wolverine he would get gutted in an instant.

"Good," Logan said, dropping Pietro on the ground and, looking at Warren asked if he was okay. Warren nodded yes and then Logan got a towel and took off some of the oil and confetti from Warren's metal wings where it had clumped together. Warren gave Logan his thanks and Logan shrugged, responding, "Hell, I know what it's like to have metal on me; you've got it worse here, not being able to reach this shit without getting in a shower." Pietro watched this with shock; was he going to have a story to tell to the rest of the Brotherhood!

Logan finished and, tossing the towel on the floor said, "Alright, you guys, here's what's going on: both of ya take showers because you smell like hell then this afternoon you both have a Danger Room session with Storm and me. Oh, and in case you were about to complain, Quicksilver, remember that I'm the father of your girlfriend." Logan glared at the speedster, who gulped and nodded nervously, not really wanting to get himself gutted.

Logan then turned to leave but like in the last room saw two plastic bags on the ground and, kneeling, went to pick them up when he hit something, sending a signal above him. Looking up Logan saw a red substance heading for him and, cursing, closed his eyes as what smelled like the remains of Remy's gumbo hit him dead on, Pietro and Warren watching in muted amazement and shock. Logan then got to his feet, the two plastic bags in his hands, and said, "I think these are yours."

Logan gave each bag to their respective owners and walked out of the room, not looking forward to the next room. He left a shocked Pietro and Warren behind him, both with their mouths wide open in shock.

**_Room #28, West Wing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 10:05 AM_**

When Logan got to room twenty-eight he saw that a trail of red footprints matching his boots had been left behind him and he frowned, knowing Jean would force him to clean the rug. 'Hell, I'll force Slim to do it; he's wrapped around her little finger anyway so it won't matter if he has one more chore.' He opened the door and to his utter relief neither Todd nor Fred were up and screaming about something that had happened; in fact, they were both sound asleep.

"Thank god," Logan muttered, moving to close the door when Fred yawned widely and, looking at the door, said, "Why are you covered in the gumbo Gambit made last night?" At Fred's question Todd yawned and looked at the door, his eyes widening in disbelief at what he was seeing.

Logan stared at the two Brotherhood boys and said, "I'll make ya a deal: you don't tell Jean I left the footprints and you don't tell the others what's on me and I'll allow you the privilege of watching your fellow Brotherhood members in a Danger Room session; deal?"

Todd got out of bed and, walking—or hopping—over to Fred began to confer with his best friend, sneaking glances over his shoulder every once and a while to look at Logan. After a few minutes Todd stepped forward and, holding out his hand said, "Deal, yo. We'll take it." Logan grinned and gave Todd his hand, causing the amphibious mutant to cringe when he felt the disgusting combination of gumbo and what had been ketchup, mustard, relish, peanut butter, and jelly touch his hand.

"Deal," Logan repeated, shaking Todd's hand a moment longer than leaving the room to return to the landing, ignoring what Todd and Fred were discussing in the room. As Logan walked down the hallway he muttered, "Wait 'till Chuck hears about this… I'm gonna have to raid my private stash again and hide it; I have a feeling that Hank and Forge are going to find it and drink me dry."

The rest of the occupants of the rooms, now including Kurt, who had been shocked when he saw Evan's condition, were all preparing to go to the bathrooms and get themselves cleaned up when they saw Logan walking down the hallway.

"Mein Gott, vhat happened to Herr Logan?" Kurt asked Evan, who merely shrugged and pushed his way past Kurt and towards the bathroom just across the way from him. He shut the door and as soon as he did so Pietro sped up and banged his fist on the door, demanding to be let in. Pietro felt a hand touch his shoulder and wheeling around was met with the raised eyebrow of Kurt.

"Pietro, you do know that there are five other bathrooms here, ja?" Kurt asked, noticing that Pietro flushed and took off without answering. Kurt shrugged and deciding to forego the privilege of the bathroom at the moment headed down to go and eat breakfast, knowing that if the girls' side of the mansion was anything like he was seeing now he would be first there. Nodding his head Kurt teleported to the kitchen, leaving the smell of brimstone to mix with all the other scents in the hallway as the victims came out of their rooms to compare stories and get to the bathrooms.


	4. Revelation

**A/N: **Hey! I got this chapter up in a relatively short amount of time… I am so proud of myself. This chapter has some rather shocking revelations inside it (can you say blackmail pictures?)… do tell me if you liked them and what could maybe have gone better. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate this overstuffed day!

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

'_blah…' _-telepathy/what people say mentally

**Chapter 4: Revelation**

**_2nd Floor Landing, 2nd Floor, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 10:10 AM_**

As Logan approached the landing he could hear that Scott and Jean's voices had joined the original seven adults who had set out to investigate the screams issuing from the second floor. Logan rounded the corner and was met with wide, shocked eyes and expressions. Scott stepped forward, clothed in nothing more than black sweatpants and his ruby glasses and asked, "Logan, what the hell happened?"

Logan glared at Scott; he was in no mood to deal with the field leader of his team considering he had just had to deal with three rooms with incompetent Brotherhood members inside each and every one of them. "Nothin's wrong with me, Slim. However, I would suggest puttin' on a shirt before one of the girls comes 'round the corner and catches sight of ya." Logan smirked when he got the desired effect; Scott's face flushed light red. Logan then turned to survey the rest of the instructors and on spotting Ororo he moved closer and asked, "'Ro, what the hell happened to you?"

Ororo looked at Logan and, raising an eyebrow at what he was covered in said, "Much the same thing that happened to you, Logan. Am I to assume that you tripped over an invisible wire and got a substance dumped on you?" Logan nodded yes and Ororo grimly smiled, appearing to be the epitome of peace but a large crack of thunder rumbled just outside, followed by a few small lightning bolts in the clouds signaled her real mood.

Xavier wheeled himself so that he was center stage and, folding his hands asked, "Alright, everyone, tell me what happened?" Amidst the damage reports Xavier could see that Jean was glaring at Logan and Ororo, seemingly upset that her plush white carpet was being ruined. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, Forge, but Jean: do tell me why you are glaring at Logan and Ororo? It is not their fault that they were caught in the midst of the prank."

Jean flushed and responded, "I'm sorry Professor; it's just that I worked forever to get this carpet down and now they're ruining it by just standing here! I demand that something be done about it this instant!" True to Jean's word something did happen; just not what she had wanted. Jean stepped backward and fell into Scott's chest, sending them both falling to the floor. This was apparently the signal to a trap above them and in an instant both Summers were covered in flour, water, and chocolate sauce, staining the white carpet black with spots of white; the opposite of a Dalmatian's coat. Jean screamed in absolute rage and shock; Scott remained silent. However, Jean soon shut her trap when she noticed two plastic bags floating down to them from above, and when she and Scott had each caught one both noticed that their names were on the front of the envelopes.

"Those are exactly like the bags that all the kids have," Forge said, kneeling to look at them closely to make sure they were the same. On seeing that they were Forge turned to Xavier and said, "Professor, I think someone's targeting everyone who came in last night, drunk beyond belief."

Xavier nodded his head and said, "I quite agree with you, Forge. The question is, however, why would Scott and Jean get pranked? They did not come in drunk last night with the younger students; in fact, Scott was with me when they came in late."

Scott had opened the bag and, consequently the envelope and on seeing its contents his face went pale. "God no…" he muttered, holding his head in his hands as he saw the picture. Jean had heard Scott and, her curiosity piqued opened her envelope and saw its contents. She didn't moan; she screamed.

"How the hell did this get on a picture!" Jean screamed, throwing the picture away from her and grabbing her hair in utter frustration. Too late she realized what she had done and reached out to get the picture but to her horror Logan had caught it and currently he, Ororo, Sean, Moira, Forge, Hank, and Xavier were all examining it, all with varying expressions on their faces. "Professor, it's not what it looks like!" Jean proclaimed, moving to get back her property but Logan looked up and, eyeing her shook his head as if he were ashamed of Jean.

Xavier looked at Jean and said, "Jean, Scott: I am horribly disappointed in you both. I would think that you both would have more common sense than this." Xavier then looked at Scott and, motioning to the picture in his hands said, "Am I to assume that you have the same photograph, Scott?" Scott numbly nodded yes and, getting to his feet, handed the photo along with what appeared to be a note to Xavier, ignoring his wife's screams of protest. Xavier's eyebrow rose on seeing the note. Looking at Scott he asked, "Do you recognize what this means, Scott?"

Scott shook his head yes and said, "Yes, Professor, I do: we have a serious case of blackmail in our midst."

Xavier nodded and said, "Exactly. I suggest that you, Jean, Logan and Ororo go and get cleaned up. Afterwards, we'll gather up all those who have received bags and review the contents and try to determine whose work this is." Everyone nodded and they all went their way, Scott dragging Jean to their room while Ororo told Logan that he could use her shower as his was broken and he hadn't had a chance to fix it yet.

_**Kitchen, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 12:00 PM**_

Nearly two hours later everyone was in the kitchen, meals untouched in front of them. Even Fred, who had heard what his teammates had gone through that morning, had decided to forego his fourth helping in honor of the fast that seemed to be going on. As he, Todd, Jamie, Kurt, and Amanda (the latter of whom had come over to spend a day with Kurt and Xavier honing her newly found magical powers) looked at the mutants at the table they were all sending up silent prayers of thanks that they hadn't been pranked as from the looks of the victims they would be scarred for life.

Roberto and Rahne were sitting at the extra table just to the right of the main one, which was used for extra seating when the kitchen was crowded; as it was now. They had opted to give up their seats at the main table for Fred and Todd and both had on sympathetic looks on their faces aimed at their teammates.

Bobby was wearing a pair of khaki shorts, a white muscle tank, and blue flip-flops. Bobby had himself planted in front of the freezer door, still suffering from the heat exhaustion he had gone through that morning. His skin was still hot to the touch and while others could stand immense heat he was unable to, hence the freezer idea. Bobby was sighing in relief as the ice cubes he had on his face were cooling down his skin.

Jubilee, who was sitting at the table, was in a pair of jeans, a yellow long-sleeved shirt, and what appeared to be black boots. She had her comforter wrapped tightly around her, still feeling the aftereffects of the cold wake-up she had experienced. Next to Jubilee sat Lorna, who like her had on jeans and what appeared to be black boots. She also had her comforter wrapped tightly around her but unlike Jubilee she had on a cream sweater instead of a long-sleeved shirt, still shivering. Both girls had mugs of hot chocolate in front of them, the steam rising to form a small cloud above the two freezing girls and both were wishing for a heat wave to hit at that moment to warm them back up to their regular body temperature.

To Lorna's right sat Alex, who was dressed in khaki shorts, a white tank top, and flip-flops. Alex, even after taking three showers and using a lot of soap—four bars, to be exact—still smelled like mayonnaise and his shoulder-length dark blond hair had small streaks of white in it, where the condiment had refused to come out. Alex's expression was dark as he thought up ways to torture whomever had placed the prank in his bedroom to begin with.

Across from Jubilee sat Sam, who was dressed in jean shorts, a dark blue tank, a sleeveless black vest, and white sneakers. Sam had managed to get most of the silly string off him but in its place jagged red lines remained on his skin, bruises from the amount of strength he'd had to use to get the silly string off him. However, small bits remained in his hair, which was in a ponytail to keep it out of his face while he tried to deal with the headache that was still with him; that last beer had really done him in, a focused and exhausted expression on his face.

Next to him sat his girlfriend Tabitha, dressed in a bright pink tee-shirt, jean cutoffs, and sandals, and who currently had her face buried in her arms, revealing her new crew-cut look, the result of not being able to get out a lot of the gum. Tabby had reluctantly agreed with Ororo that she had to cut her hair to ensure that the gum didn't stay and damage her remaining hair. Tabby had vowed that from now on she was done with gum; after all, she had had enough to last the rest of her life. Like Alex Tabby still smelled like mayonnaise, the smell permeating her clothing.

To Alex's right sat Ray, who was dressed in jean shorts, a dark orange tee shirt, and sandals. His hair was still neon green with hot pink streaks; Ororo had promised him that she'd deal with his hair after lunch and so Ray had to deal with all the wisecracks he was getting from his teammates about his hair. Ray had also taken a shower and despite using four bars of soap still managed to smell like chocolate sauce. Ray was currently staring daggers at the wall behind Tabitha, wishing he could burn a hole into the offending partition between the kitchen and the hallway.

Next to Ray sat his girlfriend Amara, who was dressed in jean shorts, a pale gray tee shirt, and sneakers. She had managed to get out most of the gum from her hair but like Tabitha had been forced to cut it; unlike her friend, however, Amara had gotten it cut to shoulder-length, a fact that embarrassed her to no end. Amara had managed to get rid of the smell of mayonnaise but now smelled like lilacs and roses, having used too much of her soap and shower gel to get rid of the condiment. Amara had her face buried in her hands, feeling embarrassed to be seen without her trademark waist length hair even though Ray had told her time and again that he liked the shorter haircut on her.

To Tabby's left sat Evan, who was dressed in black jean cutoffs, a black muscle shirt, and white sneakers, his bone armor forming a ridge along his back. It was along this ridge that Evan still had some dead, red leaves and dark brown glue stuck to it, even though he had managed to get most the concoction off when he took his shower. Evan had used five bars of soap to scrub at the glue and leaves and after he had exhausted the fifth bar he had been forced to leave the bathroom and go to his room by Kurt, who had been waiting for over an hour to get inside the bathroom. Evan had made due with what was still on him and so, according to Pietro, now looked like a half-dead tree branch, the red leaves the only sign of life on him; Pietro had gotten punched in the eye for this remark not by Evan but by Danielle. Evan was glaring at the table, his meal bearing the brunt of his anger as it seemed to melt under Evan's black eyes, his platinum blond hair falling around his head and not spiked up as he usually had it.

Dani, who was sitting next to Evan, was dressed in jean capris, a white tee shirt, and her brown moccasins. She had a set of earphones over her ears, blocking any loud sounds and making everyone stare at her. After explaining what had happened Hank had taken Dani to the infirmary, and after examining her ears told her that her ears would be fine after a day's rest. So, although Dani could listen to the conversations around her she couldn't deal with any screams or loud music. A bottle of aspirin was in front of her, and Dani took two to try and calm down the raging headache that was still in her head, a combination of the alcohol from the night before and the music she'd woken up to.

Next to Dani sat Kitty, who was dressed in a pale pink tank top, khaki shorts, and silver sandals. Kitty, like Sam had managed to get most of the silly string off and in its place jagged red lines were splattered across her face, arms, and legs. Kitty had her shoulder-length hair down and draped over her right shoulder, frowning as she picked out bits and pieces of the pink silly string from the brown strands.

To her left sat Lance, who was dressed in dark blue jean shorts to his knees, a black muscle tank, and his sleeveless brown vest. Lance didn't have his gloves on today as his hands still had traces of the chocolate sauce that had been dumped on him earlier; in fact, all his body did. Lance's brown hair had yellow and green feathers that he had missed when taking a shower and so it appeared that he had a feather headdress on, the chocolate sauce on his face and arms representing ceremonial markings. Lance was frowning, doing his best to not let his emotions get out of control as he thought about whom could have pranked him and why.

Across from Lance sat Rogue, who was dressed in black jeans, a black tank top covered by a dark green mesh, and her combat boots, her gloves on her hands. Like her roommate Rogue had managed to get most of the black silly string off her but still had some on her face, which, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get off. Her hair was fine except for the fact that her white streak contained bits and pieces of the silly string, giving it a salt-and-pepper appearance.

Next to her sat Remy, who was dressed in dark brown khakis, a dark red tee shirt, his duster on the back of his chair and gloves on the table, boots on his feet. Remy had had a hell of a time getting the concoction out of his hair and even now it still smelt like garlic, which even after five showers and seven bars of soap had refused to leave his being. So, Remy now reeked of garlic and cayenne pepper, the only remnants of what had been dumped on him, as the mixture itself wasn't on any part of him. Remy was staring at Lance and frowned on noting the lines of concentration that had appeared on the Brotherhood leader's face, and shaking his head knew that Lance was doing his best to not let his anger overcome him.

To Remy's right sat John, who was dressed in dark blue jeans, black sneakers, and a dark orange sweater, his hair still a vibrant blue although small bits of orange now shone through the hair dye. John was also wrapped in a black comforter he had stolen from the closet in the room he had slept in, shivering violently. Although John had taken ten hot showers he still complained he was cold and hence had dressed for the middle of January even though it was close to eighty-five degrees outside. Ororo had told John that she'd help him with his hair after lunch and, honestly, John couldn't wait to get his orange hair back; having blue hair just didn't feel right to him.

Next to John sat Wanda, who was dressed in black jeans, a red spaghetti tank top, and black sandals. She had pushed her way in front of the line of mutants with hair problems and had asked Ororo to help her with her hair first. Ororo had agreed, promising everyone else she'd help them with their hair problems later, which meant the guys as Ororo had managed to help Tabby and Amara as well as Wanda. Wanda's hair was now back to its normal colors—black with red tips—but Ororo hadn't gotten a chance to finish Wanda's hair so some hot, neon pink remained in her hair, just at the front where everyone could see it. Wanda had thanked her deity that the chocolate sauce that Ororo had gotten dropped on her hadn't fallen on her and so she didn't smell like a dessert.

Across from Remy sat Warren, who was dressed in khaki shorts, a dark blue tee shirt, and white sneakers. Warren had managed to get all of the chocolate sauce off his wings but still had some confetti on the back of the wings, resulting in getting teased by his girlfriend that they must have had one hell of a party the night before and they just didn't remember it. Warren, even after having taken six hot showers with ten bars of soap and a full bottle of what was once brand-new shampoo still had some engine oil in his hair, which was now blond with small black streaks in it. Warren was staring at the wall behind Remy, his sapphire eyes shooting fire at the wall.

To Warren's left sat Betsy, who was dressed in jean cutoffs, a dark purple halter top, and a very light white jacket, purple sandals on her feet. Betsy had taken five showers and used up at least eleven bars of soap yet she still smelled like Remy's gumbo, which irked her to no end. Along with dealing with Wanda's teasing Betsy had to deal with the small white feathers that had refused to come out of her hair, resulting in a streak of white feathers in her hair which she couldn't get rid of. Betsy was currently glaring at Remy, blaming him for the gumbo that had been dumped on her earlier that day.

Next to Betsy sat Pietro, who was dressed in light blue jeans, a white muscle tank, and white sneakers. Pietro had found his special loofah but no matter how hard he scrubbed he couldn't get the smell of the ketchup-mustard-peanut butter-jelly-relish concoction off him and so he now reeked of all the condiments used on sandwiches. Pietro also sported a black eye, the result of Evan's girlfriend punching him in the eye for teasing Evan. Pietro had had to deal with the smirks and laughter from his own team—Wanda especially—and right now he was in a sour mood. Pietro was currently glaring down the table at Danielle and Evan, planning to avenge the wound to his complexion.

To his left sat Lexie, who was dressed in black shorts, a dark blue halter top, and black sandals, her midnight hair in a braid down her back. Lexie had taken four showers and used six bars of soap and unlike her boyfriend had managed to get the smell of ketchup and mustard off her but now she smelled like mint and lilac, the scents of the soap she had used. Lexie was bothered by the smell; sometimes having acute senses sucked. Lexie was staring at her hands, wishing she knew who had pranked her so she could get her revenge.

Across from Lexie was Piotr, who unlike Lance had managed to get the chocolate sauce and feathers off him in three showers and three bars of soap. Piotr was thankful that he had managed to get the concoction off him and right now was staring at Kitty, his eyes focused on the frown on her face. He wished that he could find the culprit who had pranked his Katchya and punish him for daring to hurt her.

To Piotr's right sat Kurt and Amanda, who had chosen to not eat their lunch (a rare move on Kurt's part) in honor of their friends' horrible mornings but also because they were grossed out by what had been dumped on half their friends. Across from them sat Fred and Todd, who were doing the same thing that Kurt and Amanda were doing, although Fred had eaten three helpings of food from the buffet bar just outside the cooking area before deciding to forego a fourth in honor of his friends. Next to Amanda sat Jamie, who was staring wide-eyed at his teammates, thankful that he hadn't been pranked and all the while planning his next set of pranks, knowing that what had happened today was going to be inspiration for him in the future.

The instructors sat towards the end of the table, with Scott, Jean, Logan, and Ororo appearing normal again, although Jean still had some flour in her hair and Ororo had small spots of chocolate sauce in her hair. At the end of the table sat Charles Xavier, who had his head resting on his hands, eyes staring at all the students, noting all their angry and depressed looks.

After a few minutes Xavier cleared his throat and said, "Well, since it seems that no one here is going to eat their meal I suppose it is time to explain what went on this morning." On seeing that he had everyone's attention he continued, "What seems to have happened was that we are in the midst of a string of pranks aimed at everyone who came in this morning past the curfew I set for everyone intoxicated. Those who were here by curfew or did not leave the mansion last evening were not targeted, which leads me to believe that these pranks were deliberately set. Now, I have learned from the instructors that everyone who was targeted found an envelope inside a plastic bag in their rooms. I believe that you have all looked at them, I assume?" On getting glum and angry nods from the students he continued, "I would like you to give me the envelopes at this time, so that I may inspect them and see why this blackmail was initiated."

This comment was met with angry words and protests from the students, all of whom expressed to Xavier the fact that it was their property and that even though he ran the school he had no right to go through their personal things. Evan, the Brotherhood and the Acolytes stood up and demanded that Xavier take back his comment, as they weren't even X-Men and therefore didn't deserve to be subjugated to the same rules the others had to follow.

Logan got to his feet and, glaring at every mutant who had protested said, "Alright, listen up; I'll give ya two choices here: either give the Professor the envelopes with all their contents," Logan aimed this comment at Bobby. The ice mutant had been trying to remove his picture from the envelope without being seen, hide the incriminating photograph, and then slip the envelope back into the bag. Bobby, on seeing Logan's glare, promptly replaced the picture in the envelope and Logan continued, "or you all will have a Danger Room session at exactly three this afternoon for an hour and a half with Storm and me. So, what'll it be?" Logan glared at each mutant, knowing that they would rather do anything but a Danger Room session but to his utter surprise each and every mutant responded that they'd rather take their chances in the Danger Room than give Xavier their envelopes.

Logan glared at them one more time before sitting down again, muttering under his breath about how he was going to make them suffer. Xavier stared at the students for a moment and on seeing that they were resolute about their decisions said, "Very well; you may all keep your envelopes… for now. I would like to have them in my office with all their contents before noon tomorrow. You are all dismissed and I expect to see everyone who received an envelope—Evan, Brotherhood and Acolytes included—in the Danger Room at 2:55 PM, ready for your Danger Room session." Xavier then moved his wheelchair and left the kitchen, the instructors following him, leaving the kitchen full of teenage mutants. Roberto and Rahne came over and took seats near Jamie and Todd, wanting to be at the table for the conversation that ensued.

Jamie asked, "Guys, are you sure you want to go through with Wolverine and Storm's Danger Room session? I mean, you guys know that you'll get slaughtered, right?" Kurt nodded in agreement, his yellow eyes begging his friends to relinquish their possessions to avoid getting seriously hurt.

Bobby, who had by now taken himself away from the refrigerator and seated himself between Jubilee and Sam at the head of the table stood up and, looking at everyone in the kitchen said, "There is no way in hell that I'm going to give my picture to the Professor; Logan'll take one look at it and gut me in two!" Everyone nodded in agreement, knowing that Logan would do that to each and every one of them if he saw their pictures.

This time Amanda spoke up and, hesitatingly asked, "Guys, what is in these pictures, exactly? I mean, they can't be that bad; can they?"

Everyone who had gotten an envelope stared at Amanda and then each other, each debating whether or not to reveal the contents of their envelopes to the mutants who hadn't gotten pranked and with each other. After a few minutes during which the couples could be seen discussing their options Evan and Danielle stood up, causing all eyes to turn to them. Dani took off her earphones and picked up her bag.

Evan sighed and, looking at Dani for reassurance that she was okay with what he was going to do said, "Dani and I have decided to be the guinea pigs and we'll let you guys see the pictures that we got." Evan and Dani, with every eye in the room on them opened their envelopes. After taking out the pictures they sent them around the table, causing every mutant's eyes to widen in shock and disbelief; Roberto and Rahne acting the part before sending the pictures back to their respective owners.

Pietro was the first to speak, earning him a withering glare from Evan, "Damn, Daniels, didn't-know-you-had-it-in-you!" Evan began marching towards Pietro, fire burning in his eyes but stopped when he saw Wanda hex Pietro out of his chair and into the wall behind him, the speed demon pleading with his twin all the while to stop her attack. Wanda did stop her attack; this just left Pietro ten feet above the ground, and a loud "oomph" was heard as he made contact with the earth again. Evan grinned at Wanda, who nodded her head in return.

"Would you grow up, Pietro? Evan and Danielle's picture isn't that bad; I'm sure that yours is much worse," Wanda commented, pointing her index finger at Pietro's envelope, still in its bag.

Dani smiled at Wanda and said, "Thank you, Wanda." Dani then took her picture from Kitty's hands and looked at it, grimacing at the scene that had been captured in full color that she saw. She and Evan were making out on a leather couch in the dance club the group had been to the night before and Evan had his hand at the edge of Danielle's shirt, preparing to take it off. Meanwhile, Danielle had already taken off Evan's shirt and had her arms wrapped around his neck, nails digging into his back. Evan had worn an image-inducer most of the night and had retracted his bone armor underneath it, which had allowed Dani to do what she had done with no interference from her boyfriend's bone armor.

Dani slipped the picture back into its envelope and sat down, Evan doing the same. She looked around at the table and, eyes locking on Jubilee said, "So, who's next? Evan and I started so everyone has to show everyone else their photograph."

Jubilee squirmed under Dani's gaze and after a few minutes snapped and said, "Fine; Bobby and I'll go next." Ignoring her boyfriend's verbal protests Jubilee took out her picture and passed it around, Bobby's copy soon following. Once again everyone's eyes widened in shock and disbelief; Pietro opened his mouth to make a snide comment but Lexie put her hand on her boyfriend's mouth and glared at him, telling him to be quiet. Bobby and Jubilee's picture was of them at the first dance club they'd been at the night before. They were grinding against each other in a darkened corner. Bobby's hands were removing Jubilee's shirt—it was almost halfway up when the picture was taken—while Jubilee seemed intent on removing Bobby's pants, as the zipper was already down. Bobby was beet-red from embarrassment while Jubilee looked like she was going to break down; she almost did when she got back the picture and looked at it one more time before slipping it back into its envelope.

After Bobby and Jubilee's pictures had been passed around everyone else revealed their secrets and slowly and surely those who weren't going to be punished learned why everyone was so intent on not letting the Professor, much less Logan, see the pictures. Sam and Tabitha's pictures showed them making out in a darkened corner at the second dance club, which the group had decided to go to for thirty minutes before heading to the bar where they'd seen Logan and Ororo. Tabby was up against the wall with her legs wrapped around Sam's waist and her arms around Sam's neck. Sam held Tabby up against the wall, his hands at the hem of his girlfriend's shirt, preparing to remove it, and all while they were still kissing, eyes closed.

Alex and Lorna's showed them in the second dance club on a couch similar to the one that Evan and Danielle had been on. In the picture they were kissing intensely, with Lorna sitting on Alex's lap, their faces so close to each other that it appeared that they had been glued together. Alex had his hands wrapped around Lorna's waist, his hands reaching lower than they should have been while Lorna's fingers tangled up in Alex's dark blonde hair, their clothes rumpled and wrinkled.

Ray and Amara's showed them on a table in a darkened corner of one of the two bars they had been to the night before, making out like there was no tomorrow, with Ray pinning Amara to the table. Ray's hands were removing Amara's shirt—it was almost off when the picture was taken—while Amara had already removed Ray's shirt and had her hands around Ray's waist, pulling his belt out of the belt loops from the back, their faces interlocked in a kiss. When Amanda saw this she tried to keep it away from Jamie but he managed to grab it and when he saw it he cursed, earning him a dark glare from the couple in question. Then Jamie remembered who his roommate was and gulped, already making plans to try and switch with someone else for the night so he didn't have to be near Ray.

Next up were Warren and Betsy's, which showed them on the roof of one of the dance clubs they had gone to, the moon shining on their faces during the picture. All eyes widened when they saw that both of them had their shirts off and were actually making out in mid-air, Warren's wings keeping them afloat and not on the rooftop, as it had seemed on first glance. Betsy had her legs wrapped around Warren's waist, her hands making their way down his back while Warren's hands were playing with the top of her jeans, their lips interlocked and eyes closed.

The next photo had Rogue cursing in outright shock; it was of Lance and Kitty making out on what appeared to be a darkened and unused section of the bar counter of the first bar they'd hit after the dance clubs. Both of their shirts had been discarded, resting on the barstools just underneath the edge of the counter. Lance was on top of Kitty, his mouth on her ear, nibbling it, while Kitty's hands were on Lance's chest, her hands moving over it while his hands were entangled in Kitty's hair, which he had taken out of her customary ponytail earlier in the evening. Kitty appeared to be biting Lance's neck, leaving a mark that was soon seen when Pietro pulled Lance up onto the table and, pulling down the collar of the earthshaker's shirt and vest showed the mark for all to see. Both Lance and Kitty blushed furiously at this and Kitty retaliated by grabbing Pietro, phased him off Lance and threw him over her shoulder into the wall, where he made another dent beside the one where Wanda had sent him flying earlier. The other mutants watched with open mouths, not expecting the valley-girl to do something so unexpected; both in and out of the picture.

John and Wanda were the next couple to be unveiled, something that Wanda didn't appreciate at all. It showed them making out in what appeared to be the girl's bathroom of the first bar they'd hit. John had Wanda on one of the sinks, his lips up against her nose, laying a kiss on it, his arms wrapped around Wanda's waist, her shirt next to her. Wanda had her lips underneath John's chin, her arms wrapped around his neck, the nails digging into his neck just below a necklace that everyone had noticed Wanda wearing that day. John's shirt was resting behind him, on the floor, and in the sunlight it appeared that Wanda was leaving a mark on John's chin but when everyone looked at John they didn't see anything. They then looked at Wanda and Pietro's eyes just about flew out of their sockets when he saw a hickey near her collar.

"What's-that?!?!?!?" Pietro demanded, speeding over to where his sister was and trying to get a closer look to confirm his suspicions but the speed demon felt someone grab his arm and spinning around found himself staring into the burning eyes of John.

"If Wanda doesn' want to show you what's on her neck then you have no business with her, Quicksilver," John said seriously, his tone of voice causing Remy and Piotr to look at each other in astonishment; they couldn't remember a time when John had spoken like that. John bent Pietro's arm behind his back and threw him over the table so that he landed in his seat face-first. John then sat back down, amidst shocked looks from his teammates and a pleased look from Wanda, who gave him a peck on the cheek in thanks. Pietro had gotten back to a normal sitting position and was now muttering under his breath, coming up with numerous revenge plans in his head for all those who had wronged him that morning.

Next up was Remy and Rogue, with Rogue glaring at Pietro, daring him to say anything after he saw the picture. Having had enough of getting punished Pietro didn't say a word; however, his eyebrow rose when he saw the picture and he, along with everyone else looked at Rogue in absolute shock. The picture showed Remy and Rogue at the second dance club they'd hit, the two of them on the dance floor near a darkened corner, lips locked together. They all looked at Rogue in shock; how in the hell were they touching when Rogue couldn't control her powers? The only reason they could come up with was that she had control and just hadn't told anyone, shocking the hell out of those who thought that they had known every one of Rogue's secrets. This fact, along with the picture, was shocking to those who saw it; what got them even more was the fact that Rogue's shirt was off and Remy had his shirt off as well, his chest pressed up against Rogue's body, seemingly fitting together like they were two jigsaw pieces. Rogue's hands were entangled in Remy's auburn hair, her emerald eyes staring into his ruby-on-onyx ones as Remy's hands, without the gloves, were caressing her face, one on either side of her nose. They looked so happy that all those who saw the picture knew that Rogue was finally breaking free; however, this didn't stop Kurt from glaring at Remy after he had seen the picture, his yellow eyes faintly glowing.

"Gambit, if you hurt mein sister then you vill have to deal vith me," Kurt said darkly, his eyes glaring into Remy's, and Remy nodded, accepting all responsibility for his actions; past and present. Rogue switched her glare to Kurt, not surprised when he didn't flinch and Amanda placed a hand on his shoulder, calming down her boyfriend with just her touch.

The final set of pictures to make its way around the table had everyone almost choking on their own breath. It showed Pietro and Lexie standing on the stage of the first bar everyone had hit, lips locked together in the middle of what most everyone recognized as a very explicit dance. Pietro had his arms around Lexie's waist, his hands moving down below the level of safety while Lexie's hands were playing with Pietro's belt, which she had wrapped around his back to pull him closer to her. Their bodies were pressed together and their eyes were closed and the sunlight coming in from the patio doors darkened some of the color in the picture. However, the picture had been taken when a spotlight had been trained on the couple certainly didn't diminish the risk with which Pietro and Lexie had been doing on stage last night. Both their hair colors—her midnight blue and his silver—shone in the picture, along with the small beads of sweat that could be seen on their bodies if a person looked hard enough.

Roberto, playing along with the rest of the shocked mutants, whistled as he saw the picture and remarked, "Damn, guys, how in the hell did you not get caught?"

Lexie shrugged and after a few minutes she dragged up a memory of the night before. "I bribed the bartender to allow us the stage for thirty minutes; besides, the curtain was closed."

Pietro looked at Lexie and asked, "Lex, what'd you bribe the guy with?"

Lexie raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend and replied, "Your dad's platinum credit card." Pietro paled and whipped out his wallet, looking through it for the said card and on not finding it glared at Lexie. "Pie, you're the one who told me I could use the card as bribe material," Lexie added, her eyes daring Pietro to tell her otherwise.

Pietro remembered and, cursing, hit his head and buried his face in his arms, muttering under his breath about how stupid he was. Everyone else looked at them with sympathy, even Wanda, who knew that Magneto was going to harm Pietro severely for losing his platinum card, the one that Magneto had lent to Pietro in an attempt to get back on the speed demon's "A-list."

Once Pietro and Lexie had taken back their pictures silence reigned until Todd, who had been wondering about something turned to Roberto and Rahne and asked, "Umm, how come you guys don' have pictures, yo?" Everyone turned their heads to Roberto and Rahne, all having wondered that very same question but no one had dared ask the question.

Rahne shrugged and replied, "Ay don' rightly know, Todd. Ay guess it's just because we didnae come back after curfew and didnae have a drop of alcohol on our tongues." Everyone nodded, accepting this explanation, and the conversation turned back to the pictures and what everyone's next plan was going to be. No one had mentioned the notes that had arrived in their envelopes along with the pictures and when no one was looking their way Roberto and Rahne grinned at each other across the table; phase two was complete.


	5. Discussion

**A/N: **Hey! Here's the next installment of _Blackmail City_; I hope you all enjoy this and Happy Holidays to everyone!!

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

'_blah…' _-telepathy/what people say mentally

**Chapter 5: Discussion**

_**Living Room, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 5:00 PM**_

After those who had found themselves being blackmailed had gone through the Danger Room session with Logan and Ororo—both of whom seemed intent on teaching the young mutants the reasons why they shouldn't go out and get drunk—a general consensus had been reached. Everyone who had suffered earlier that day were to gather in the living room and try to figure out who had pranked and blackmailed them. They had unanimously decided to not include Todd, Fred, Kurt, Amanda, Jamie, Piotr, Roberto, or Rahne as they didn't want them to find out they were being blackmailed by someone who had left a note in their envelopes with the pictures; besides, they weren't blackmailed so why should they be with them?

After everyone was gathered a leader was picked and after much bickering between those who lived at the Institute and the guests Sam and Wanda had been elected co-leaders, each one representing a group of wronged mutants. As Sam and Wanda took their positions as leaders each wronged mutant produced their envelope and each pulled out their picture and something else; a note.

Sam said, "All right, guys, let's get ta tha bottom of this." Wanda nodded in agreement and when Pietro wouldn't stop complaining about how his life was going to be ruined she hexed him into the wall behind the sofa.

"Continue," Wanda said, looking at her nails, ignoring the mixed expression Sam sent her way. Sam shrugged and began to talk to the gathered mutants, asking them for their opinions of whom had been behind the whole ordeal.

"Who do yah'll think did this ta us?" Sam asked, inclining his head towards each person in turn, asking each of them for their opinion.

Bobby spoke first, saying, "I think that Jamie did this; after all, he plays tricks on us all the time."

Ray rolled his eyes and shot back, "Nice guess, Einstein, but guess again. The squirt wasn't with us; hell, he was scared when he saw me this morning with the green and pink hair coloring. If he'd done this to us he'd have been laughing his head off." Ray's hair was back to its normal dark blonde and orange combo, but he still had some small streaks (at least two) near his bangs; that he didn't mind as no one noticed but him.

Bobby opened his mouth to retort when Jubilee seconded Ray's opinion, saying, "Ray's right, Bobby. Jamie wasn't even with us and if he was my question is how did he even get into the nightclubs and bars? Hell, we had to bribe some of the guards just to get into the second dance club we were at so how could Jamie have followed us?"

Bobby turned to Jubilee and, looking at her asked, "Wait a minute… did you say that you 'bribed' the guards? How did you do that, Jubes?"

Jubilee coughed; she still complained that she was cold, even after an intense ninety-minute Danger Room session and so still had on her comforter to warm her up and get rid of the cough she had contracted after her wake-up call. She looked away from Bobby's eyes and responded, "Oh, you know, with, um, money."

Ray caught on to what Bobby was hinting at and whirled on Amara, who had her knees tucked up under her chin, seemingly staring into space. "Did you bribe the guards at the dance club with something other than money, 'Mara?" His teammates stared at Ray in surprise; his voice held a pleading tone to it, almost as if he was pleading with Amara to tell him that what Bobby was implying wasn't true.

Amara stared up at Ray, her eyes possessing a blank look to them. She responded, "Of course we didn't bribe the guards at the dance club with money; we just told them that we'd flash them if they would let all of us in and when they agreed that was what we did." She then returned to looking into space, ignoring the pained expression on Ray's face.

Ray's expression soon turned to anger as he stood up and, dragging Amara to her feet forced her to look at him. "Damn it, Amara, you don't do that! Hell, it's not modest and… and what if the guards had done something to you? How would that make you feel; how would it make me feel?!" Ray noticed that his girlfriend wasn't listening to him; her eyes still held a glazed look to them and, knowing the cause continued, "Listen to me, 'Mara. You're hair isn't what I like about you; I like your personality, your independent streak, your ability to remain optimistic even when everyone else is down and out. Your hair doesn't matter; snap out of it!" He placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at him and this time he caught a spark in her eyes.

Amara turned away from Ray's eyes and spoke softly, her voice wavering, "You… you really mean that, Ray?"

Ray brought her face towards him again and forced her to look into his eyes and his heart broke when he saw the doubt in her eyes. Softening his tone he replied, "Of course I mean it, 'Mara. You mean everything to me and I… I don't know what I'd do without you." Amara searched Ray's face, probing for even a sliver of insincerity and on finding none flung herself into Ray's arms, breathing in his scent and relaxing. Ray kissed the top of her head, glad that he had gotten through to her.

Sam cleared his throat and both Ray and Amara looked up, Ray shooting a glare at Bobby, who had his mouth hanging open on hinges. Bobby shut his mouth and as Ray and Amara sat back down Sam looked at Tabby, who looked guilty. "Alrighty, then, now that we've established tha fact that 'bribing' was used ta get inta tha second dance club Ah want ta know who else besides Jubes and 'Mara were involved," Sam said seriously. He knew that he had to find out now in order to prevent the women from getting caught by Logan or Sean when they went to investigate the clubs. This earned him glares from the women and grateful looks from the men.

Wanda rolled her eyes and, taking over from Sam reported, "I'll give you the full report, Sherlock. We walked up to the entrance and while you were all playing some kind of game to determine who'd pay for the drinks we women walked up to the guards. Like Amara said we bribed them to get in and since there were about ten guards (the place had been fairly expensive and high class-oriented) Amara, Jubilee, Kitty, Lorna, Tabby, Danielle, Lexie, Betsy, and myself flashed the guards to get us all into the place. When we told you guys that we were in you just waved at the guards as thanks for letting us into the club." Wanda shrugged, as if the revelation wasn't a huge deal and decided to ignore the glares being sent at her from all directions.

"Kitty, I can't believe that you would do that!" Lance exclaimed, looking at Kitty with betrayal in his eyes. Kitty averted her eyes, trying to think of an excuse but nothing came to mind. After a few minutes had passed she tilted her head towards the closed living room doors and heard whispering coming from beyond them.

_'Betsy, tell everyone to shut up; someone's at the door,'_ Kitty told Betsy, who started and on concentrating found that Kitty was right.

_'Would all you bloody idiots shut the hell up? We've got eavesdroppers,'_ Betsy related and everyone shut their mouths, the women going pale, all hoping that Logan wasn't outside.

Putting a finger to her mouth Betsy made her way over to the door, a psychic knife in her right hand. On the count of three she flung open the doors with her telekinesis and found herself standing over both Todd and Jamie, who had been trying to see what was going on behind closed doors. "Todd… Jamie… what the hell are you doing?" Betsy asked icily, her knife glowing a brighter shade of purple.

Jamie gulped and backed up, running into Todd (who was right behind him), causing the young man to produce three clones who instantly took off running, the one in front of Betsy disappearing, an expression of shock on his face. That just left Todd, who looked scared to death.

Wanda came to the door, hands glowing blue, and surrounding Todd with her magic brought him into the living room, Betsy closing the doors behind her. Dumping Todd on the floor Wanda asked, "Toad, what the hell are you doing here? No wait; more importantly, how much did you hear?"

Todd gulped and looked around the room, hoping to find a sympathetic gaze among those in the room. However, on seeing daggers from everyone's eyes, even the males, Todd got to his feet and said, "Yo, I didn't hear nothin'; I just got here and Jamie was already there!"

Betsy scanned him with her telepathy and reported, "He's telling the truth; now what?"

Tabby and Lorna looked at each other and, getting to their feet, moved towards the door. Tabby turned and said, "We'll go and find the runt; we know exactly where he is." They then left and after some deliberation Betsy and Wanda allowed their fellow Brotherhood member to leave, after making him swear on his life to not reveal a word.

Todd hopped out of the room like hell was on his tail; in fact, he slammed into Jean, knocking her to the ground amidst her screaming as she got some of Todd's slime on her. Todd's eyes widened; "Shit!" he exclaimed before taking off up the stairs to where he knew Piotr was drawing on the balcony of his room, planning to hide with the Russian until Jean had gotten over the ruination of her makeup.

"Toad! I'll kill you!" Jean screamed, leaping to her feet and running up the stairs after Todd, only to run into Fred, who had heard the threat and come out to defend his friend. "Move Blob! I have to kill Toad!"

Fred shook his head and replied, "I'm not letting you kill my best friend, Jean. Now leave before you get hurt." Jean fumed; how dare this mass of fat and… well, fat demand her to leave?! He was a mere guest; this was her mansion!

"Move now, Blob," Jean seethed, preparing to send a mental blast at Fred but Fred lifted a hand and, aiming carefully, hit Jean on her shoulder, only using enough strength to knock her unconscious. Lifting her into his arms he took her to her room and placed her on the bed, hoping against hope that she'd forget her mission of revenge against Todd. Shaking his head Fred decided to go and find Todd and see what he'd done this time.

_**Living Room, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 5:30 PM**_

Meanwhile, while Tabby and Lorna were tracking down Jamie the others were still trying to figure out who was blackmailing them. So far, they had marked Kurt, Amanda, Fred, Todd, Roberto, and Rahne off their list; that only left Jamie (whom they now suspected more than anyone else due to his recent spying actions), Scott, Jean, and Forge. After some deliberation they decided that Forge could be taken off the perpetrator list; he wouldn't do something like that to the mutants who had made it possible for him to live a normal life again.

"I think that it has to be Summers and Grey," Lance commented from his seat next to Kitty, doing his best to not look at his girlfriend, whom he felt had betrayed him but his eyes would glance at her every now and then. At his words everyone got thoughtful looks on their faces; they knew that Scott and Jean would do anything in their power to put the Brotherhood in a bad light and blackmailing them was perfect. There was also the issue of Jean getting revenge for yesterday's actions at their graduation ceremony to consider.

Warren was resting his chin in his hand and opened his mouth to comment when Tabby and Lorna burst through the living room doors, Jamie held aloft between them. Betsy closed the doors and then directed her attention on Jamie, who was looking around nervously. "Well, if it isn't the little snoop," she quipped, her voice containing an icy tone.

Jamie looked around, trying to find support from his teammates but on finding nothing but glares caved. "Fine! I was spying but all I heard was Lance saying something about Kitty doing something or other; I swear, that's all!" Jamie's brown eyes were wide with fear; he didn't know what his teammates were going to do to him and frankly he didn't want to know.

"Betsy?" Sam asked, his brown eyes narrowed dangerously at his younger teammate; even though he and Jamie were close he was not going to tolerate the risk of his girlfriend's indecent action getting around to Logan's ears.

Betsy closed her eyes and after scanning Jamie opened her eyes and responded, "Affirmative. He's telling the truth." She then glared at Jamie, the younger man backing up in fear.

"Fahne then; Jamie, if yah even breathe a word of what yah heard or even that we're here yah'll be in deep trouble; got meh?" Sam asked, his brown eyes glaring into Jamie's. Jamie nodded his head at a speed that even impressed Pietro.

"Done," he responded, getting to his feet. "Can I, umm, go now? I think Mr. Cassidy wants to train with me or something." Sam nodded and Jamie weakly grinned, backing out of the room and then running for his life.

Wanda turned her attention back to the gathered group of mutants and said, "Alright, we all agree that Summers and Miss Know-It-All did this dirty deed; right?" On getting nods Wanda looked at Sam and they shared a look with each other. "Then we should repay them, shouldn't we?"

Everyone digested this question and on realizing its meaning grinned; getting revenge on Scott and Jean would be fun indeed; now, to come up with the right technique of revenge…


	6. Revenge

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

'_blah…' _-telepathy/what people say mentally

**Chapter 6: Revenge**

_**Kitchen, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 7:00 PM**_

Roberto and Rahne were currently sitting at the table in the kitchen, looking over some roughly drawn blueprints for their final prank.

"'Berto, are ye sure tha' this'll work?" Rahne asked doubtfully, her eyes scanning the drawings in front of her with doubt in her eyes.

Roberto looked up at his girlfriend and, grinning, replied, "Of course I'm sure, Rahne. This'll work; hell, if everything else worked then this will definitely work." Rahne tilted her head at that moment, her ears changing to their wolf form and alerting her to the approaching sounds.

"Someone's coming…" Rahne said, her ears moving back and forth. Roberto cursed under his breath and thinking quickly took the drawings and crumbled them into a small ball that he quickly hid in his pocket. Rahne changed her ears back to normal and they started talking about what they were going to do the next day.

Forge walked into the kitchen, his black eyes aimed at the coffeepot that was almost empty of the precious liquid. "Good… there's still some left…" Forge mumbled, his words catching Roberto and Rahne's attention.

Raising an eyebrow Roberto asked, "Um, Forge, are you okay?"

Forge looked up from pouring the liquid into his patented mug, which was two times the size of a regular mug and looked at the two young mutants who were watching him. "Oh, uh, Roberto, Rahne; umm, let's just say that my latest experiment needs some more… um, work. I have to go; bye!" Forge placed the coffeepot in the sink on his way out and passed Roberto and Rahne, who both watched him go with confused expressions on his face.

"What was all that about?" Roberto asked, resting his chin on his right hand as he watched Forge's back retreat behind a corner.

Rahne thought for a moment before grinning and replying, "Ay think Ay heard someone sayin' tha' Forge tossed somethin' on Storm's roses and now he has tae fix them; Ay think he's been at it for over five hours." Roberto grinned at this and both began laughing, knowing that their plans had inadvertently gotten someone else involved as well.

Roberto made a move to withdraw the plans from his pocket when both heard someone clearing their throat. Roberto froze and, turning around slowly gulped when he saw an angry looking Logan behind him.

"Well, if it ain't the two miscreants who ended up not getting' in trouble last night," Logan drawled, black eyes looking at them in suspicion. "Anything ya want to tell me?"

Roberto and Rahne looked at each other and Rahne, getting an idea, sighed and replied, "Aye, there is somethin' ye need tae know, Wolverine. Forge, he, umm, just came and took the last bit of coffee… Ay'm sorry tha' we could nae stop him." Rahne bowed her head in remorse, Roberto doing the same.

Logan growled; how dare that inventor come and steal his coffee?! Hell, he needed it more than the inventor after what had happened that morning… "Is that so? Well, guess I'll have to go and track him down, won't I?" Logan made to leave the kitchen but then turned around and, meeting two sets of eyes winked and said, "Thanks for the info." Logan then left and Roberto and Rahne thought they heard the sound of Logan's claws coming out as he went to hunt down the rogue inventor.

Roberto placed his head in his hands and mumbled, "That was way too close… Nice move, Wolfie." Rahne nodded, doing the same. They sat this way for a few minutes, not daring to try and continue their discussions at the time, afraid that they'd been caught again.

Rahne suddenly lifted her head and looked past her boyfriend's shoulders and out into the hallway, where she saw Lorna and Alex doing something. "'Berto, what are Lorna and Alex up tae?"

Roberto's head shot up and, turning in his chair his mouth dropped. "Shit… I hope that they didn't figure out that we're the ones responsible…"

Looking at each other they decided to find out just what was going on. Running out of the kitchen they nearly collided with Warren and Betsy, who were carrying what looked like barrels full of something.

"Hey! Watch where the hell you're going!" Warren exclaimed, taking to the air just in time to avoid a direct collision with Roberto. Betsy levitated her load in the air so that Rahne missed it, the werewolf skidding to a stop just before she would have hit the woman in front of her.

"Sorry," Roberto said, looking back and forth from Warren to Betsy. "Umm, if you don't mind me asking what's going on?"

Warren and Betsy looked at each other, each wondering if it was safe to let Roberto and Rahne in on their prank. Betsy turned to them and replied, "Well, let's just say that Scott and Jean are going to get what's coming to them, shall we?" Betsy then levitated her load back into her arms, Warren landing back on solid ground, and they walked towards Alex and Lorna, who were waiting for them.

Roberto and Rahne looked at each other and grinned; who knew that their plan would lead to Scott and Jean getting pranked two times in one day?

"How about we head out to the gazebo?" Roberto asked, draping an arm over Rahne's shoulders. Rahne nodded and together they headed out towards the lone gazebo on the Institute's grounds, located near the edge of the forest that surrounded the Institute.

_**Foyer, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 7:20 PM**_

While Roberto and Rahne made their way out to the gazebo Alex, Lorna, Warren, and Betsy were putting the final touches on their plan of revenge. Betsy levitated the two barrels that she and Warren had just arrived with into position while Lorna made some final minute adjustments to the metal contraption above her. Alex and Warren were both on guard duty.

"Almost there… got it," Lorna said, grinning when she saw the last piece go into place. She looked to Betsy and when she got a nod from the purple-haired woman a minute later floated up into the air, flipping a few switches and turning a few dials. She floated back to the ground and she and Betsy exchanged a high five, knowing that their plan was bound to be a success; hell, how could it not?

"We got it!" came Kitty's voice as she, Lance, Evan, Dani, Sam, and Tabby came running into the foyer, a large banner held between the six of them. "It took some rooting around but I finally found what we needed."

Warren walked over to the new arrivals and asked, "Did you blow it up?"

Tabby grinned and replied, "But of course! Now our two dear "instructors" are going to get what they deserve!"

Evan shot a thumbs-up at Alex and Lorna, saying, "This is going to be so sweet!" Betsy nodded and after explaining what they were going to do with the large banner she had Warren and Lorna take either end of it and take it up to the ceiling, one end at either side of the large doorway that led to the front lawn of the Institute. When Warren and Lorna had it in position Evan stepped up to the plate and, extracting six bone spikes shot them at the spots Betsy specified, effectively pinning the banner in place.

"You're sure that the Professor won't mind the holes in the wall?" Dani asked, doubt still in her mind about what they were going to do.

Sam looked over at her and, grinning, said, "He may not lahke what we're doin' Dani, but we sure are ready ta get our revenge; wouldn't yah say?" Dani thought for a moment then nodded, her confidence restored in the project.

Warren and Lorna flew back to the ground and the group stood still for a moment, just admiring their work, when they heard a crackling emanating from Sam's left ear. Sam put a hand up to his ear and listened, his face showing nothing. During the meeting it had been agreed that Sam, Bobby, and Remy would each have a comlink in their ears so that they communicate with each other and not have to worry about bad planning.

After a few minutes he brought his hand back to his side and, grinning said, "Plan's good ta go in about twelve minutes… are we all ready?"

Everyone nodded and Betsy broached a subject that she had been thinking about for a few minutes. "Guys, should we let Roberto and Rahne in on this? I mean, they hate Summers and Grey too, right?" Everyone thought about this for a moment, trying to decide on an answer.

"Why not? I mean, who the hell in his place doesn't hate Summers and Grey?" Lance said, his voice holding no sympathy for the two older mutants. Betsy nodded and used her telepathy to tell Roberto and Rahne to come to the foyer for the surprise of their lives.

Seven minutes later Roberto and Rahne burst into the foyer, breathless from the distance they had covered quickly. "What's… what's wrong?" Roberto panted, not having gotten a chance to recover his breath.

Sam stepped forward and said, "We thought tha' yah'll would want ta be here when Scott and Jean get what's comin' to them; yah in?"

Roberto and Rahne looked at each other and grinned, nodding their heads yes in response to Sam's question. They soon recovered their breath and admired what their friends had accomplished. They then looked over at Sam when a crackling sound was heard again and watched as Sam nodded his head while listening to what was in his left ear.

"Got it… guys, they're coming now!" Sam exclaimed and at this everyone scattered to hide to either the left or right of the stairs. No sooner had they done this then shouting could be heard from the second floor. In a matter of seconds Bobby, Jubilee, John, and Wanda came around the corner of the East Wing and Remy, Rogue, Ray, Amara, Pietro, and Lexie came careening around the corner of the West Wing, with Scott coming from the West Wing and Jean from the East.

Pietro sped ahead of everybody and down the stairs, stopping at the doors to the outside. "You-are-all-such-slowpokes!" he taunted Scott and Jean who, according to plan fell for the taunt. Taking a flying leap off of the edge of the top of the stairs they landed in the middle of the foyer, Scott's hands on his visor and Jean's arms outstretched in front of her.

"Now!" Wanda exclaimed and at this everyone who was on the staircase leaped over the sides and to the ground while Pietro sped around Scott and Jean in an ever-increasing white hurricane.

"Pietro, we got it; move!" Lorna exclaimed, getting to her feet and once Pietro had made it over to his assigned hiding place Lorna closed her eyes and ripped the metal wiring that held the trap in place, opening her eyes to guide the trap doors' opening correctly.

Scott and Jean looked up and before Jean could encase themselves in a telepathic bubble a mixture of mustard, ketchup, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, marshmallow topping, and caramel sauce fell over them, covering them head to toe. Grinning, Roberto and Rahne watched the proceedings with amused expressions and satisfied looks on their faces.

"Argh! Not again!" Jean exclaimed, clearing away the gunk from her eyes so that she could see what was going around her and on seeing the machine above her recognized it immediately. "When I get my hands on Forge I'm going to kill him!" You see, after the meeting Lorna and Alex had taken an impromptu trip to Forge's laboratory and had stolen one of his more… successful inventions. The device was designed to hold large quantities of a substance and then release it at a given time through manipulation of the metal or a button-like device. It had worked; it was just that Ororo had threatened Forge with castration if he didn't shut down the device down and never use it again as during its test run it had destroyed her prize rosebushes and petunias.

Pietro appeared in front of the soaked couple and quipped, "Hey, guys, why don't you go and find yourselves two large pieces of bread to lie between? I'm sure that some giant would enjoy you for lunch." He winked then ran up the stairs to where five bags of white feathers rested. Breaking them open he created a wind hurricane and took the feathers down to the couples, whose eyes widened in shock.

Once they were covered in the feathers head to toe Pietro sped back to his hiding place, allowing Betsy to take over. "Hey Summers, Grey; this is for what you did to us!" Using her powers she took four of Evan's spikes out of the wall, allowing the banner to open up to reveal a blown-up and much larger photograph of what Scott and Jean had found that morning in their envelopes.

"Where did you get that?" Scott asked, shock and desperation in his voice. He was holding Jean who, on seeing the photograph had fainted from embarrassment. The photograph showed them at a bar the night before, both obviously drunk. Jean was stripping on a stage while Scott was operating the microphone and collecting bills from men who were enjoying the show. Scott had a silly grin on his face as the picture had been taken when he had been leaning over the stage to get a bill and had been kissed by a woman in the audience. Jean was smirking, seemingly not caring about what Scott had just received on his cheek as she was more concentrated on getting the attention of a man who had his head over a beer, his features hidden in the shadows.

Alex, whistling, got to his feet and, stepping out from his hiding place said, "Jeez, bro., now I can see why my dear sister-in-law would faint; this is bad, especially for you." Scott glared at his brother, the gears in his head turning, trying to come up with the person who had done this to his wife and him.

"You did this, Alex?! How dare you! I'm your brother, for heaven's sake!" Scott screamed, his arms still holding an unconscious Jean. Alex smirked; he didn't look the least bit sorry for what had just happened; in fact, he looked extremely happy.

"Sorry, bro. Revenge comes with its prices and unfortunately for Jean she had to faint," he replied, the rest of his team stepping out of the shadows, followed by the senior X-Men, Brotherhood, Acolytes, and Evan, all of whom were grinning widely, their plan having been a complete and total success.

"We didn't set you up!" Scott exclaimed, laying Jean gently on the floor then marching over to his brother, staring into his eyes. "Hell, I wouldn't do that to you; families don't do that to each other!" Alex's eyes lost some of their spark as he looked into his brother's eyes, now hidden behind a ruby visor covered in the disgusting mixture.

"Yeah, well, maybe you wouldn't have done it but Jean certainly would have!" Lorna exclaimed, moving up so that she was beside her boyfriend. "Jean hates that we get along so well with the Brotherhood and Acolytes; hell, even you hate that fact, Scott! Admit it; you and Jean blackmailed us to put them in a bad light!"

Scott started; how could they think that of him? Okay, sure, he didn't like the Brotherhood or Acolytes but he'd never blackmail them; no, he preferred to beat them in battle and then humiliate them. Blackmailing just wasn't his thing and Jean hated it. "I didn't do this, guys! If I did then why would I try and blackmail Jean and myself, huh?"

This got startled looks from the group of mutants. Damn, how could they have forgotten that fact? "Umm… guys, maybe we made a mistake," Bobby muttered, cursing when Jubilee hit him on the head and shot him a look that said, "Duh."

Roberto and Rahne looked at each other—they hadn't come out of the shadows—and mentally agreed to leave the foyer and go and put the finishing touches on their last plan. Making sure that they weren't seen Roberto and Rahne managed to sneak out of the foyer. Once they had done so they took off for the back of the mansion to make sure that their plan to get Logan and Ororo was ready to go.


	7. Sunset

**A/N: **… I honestly have no valid excuse for making you guys wait so long… actually I do. Blame the top-heavy homework pile I have to work through every day… anyway, enjoy!!!

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

'_blah…' _-telepathy/what people say mentally

**Chapter 7: Sunset**

_**Roof of the Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 8:30 PM**_

Logan and Ororo were currently lying on a blanket they had brought up with them, watching the sunset over the cliff. Ororo was nestled in the crook of Logan's arm, his fingers tangled in her white hair.

Ororo sighed and said, "This is heaven, Logan." She closed her eyes and felt the breeze that caressed her face, leaving behind a wonderful feeling.

"What's heaven, 'Ro, is being here with you," Logan replied, his fingers running through Ororo's hair, enjoying the feel of the strands on his fingers.

Ororo leaned up on her elbow and, looking at Logan asked, "Why, Logan, were you just being poetic?"

Logan grinned and, pulling Ororo close to him said, "Nope; that was me tellin' ya the truth." He kissed Ororo and grinned against her lips when he felt her respond. They stayed this way for a few minutes, both enjoying each other's company.

Logan and Ororo soon parted for air and rested their foreheads against each other, their breath coming out in short intervals. They looked into each other's eyes and were about to kiss again when they heard screaming coming from downstairs. Groaning Logan slapped a hand against his forehead and muttered, "We just can't get away, can we?"

Ororo sighed and, getting to her feet dusted of her clothes, and looked down at Logan, replying, "No, it seems that we cannot get away. Shall we go and see what's going on?"

Logan grinned ruefully and got to his feet, picking up the blanket that they had just been lying on. "Guess we'll just have to take a rain-check, huh 'Ro?"

Ororo shrugged and, grinning at Logan replied, "We could always come back later, Logan."

Logan grinned and, draping an arm over Ororo's shoulders said, "We could do that; in fact, let's go and threaten those who screamed so we can come back here before the sun completely sets; that okay with you?" Ororo nodded and together they headed down to the first floor to find whoever had screamed and punish them for interrupting their peace and quiet.

_**Kitchen, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 8:45 PM**_

Meanwhile, Jean had just gotten a good look at herself in the small compact mirror she kept in the kitchen cupboard. "Who the hell did this to me!" Jean screamed in rage, her form beginning to glow with a pale red aura. Her emerald eyes got small flames in them as she spun around, looking for a target but on seeing who was at the door immediately powered down. She then ran towards the door and threw herself into Scott's arms, who, on hearing his wife scream, had come running into the kitchen.

"It's okay, Jean; I'm here," Scott soothed, having just finished his forty-five minute lecture to the "victims turned pranksters" about the error of their ways. It was because of this that he hadn't gotten a chance to clean himself up. He had put Jean in the kitchen, her head on the table, so that she would at least be somewhat comfortable, as the tough carpeting in the foyer wasn't very comfortable to sleep on. It also didn't help matters much that the carpet was already ruined thanks to the prank that had happened close to an hour ago.

"It's okay, Jean. We'll go and take a shower and then we'll be all right, okay?" Scott said, rubbing Jean's back in relaxing motions. Jean nodded and Scott began to lead her out of the kitchen and towards the stairs when they ran into Logan and Ororo, both of whom did a double take when they saw their fellow teachers.

"Christ, what the hell happened to you?" Logan asked, for once shocked. Ororo just stared at Scott and Jean, her blue eyes open wide in shock and disbelief.

Scott sighed and replied, "We'll tell you guys later; right now, we need to go and take our fifth shower of the day." Scott then guided Jean around Logan and Ororo and up the stairs to the second floor and their room, where they would clean themselves up.

Ororo looked at Logan and said, "What do you think happened to them, Logan?" Logan shook his head, signaling he had no answer but suddenly he caught a familiar scent.

"Hold on a minute, 'Ro. I sense that everyone who was hit this morning was here and I can smell Polaris's scent on the ceiling," Logan said, his nose catching scents and auras that were all familiar to him.

Ororo put her chin in her hand and thought for a moment, the gears in her head turning. "You mean to say that Scott and Jean were pranked by those who were pranked this morning? Do you think that Scott and Jean were behind the whole thing?"

Logan shook his head and replied, "Don' think so, 'Ro. If they were then why in the hell would they allow a picture of them with that kind of content to be seen by us? No, I think someone set them up and whoever the hell did is responsible for this. Let's go and investigate, shall we?" Ororo nodded yes and together they spent the next few minutes investigating the foyer and the battlefield, noting this and that and putting one and one together to equal two. They then looked into the living room and saw that no one was there but once again Logan smelled the scents of everyone he had smelled in the foyer in the room.

"They can't be far, 'Ro; scent's still strong," Logan commented, his face taking on an amused expression. "I will say this for them, though; whoever is behind this whole sham is good. I haven't been able to get even a clue to their identities but as soon as I know they'll be having Danger Room sessions for a month with me, everyday for a half hour." Ororo nodded in agreement as they made their way to the vast grounds of the Institute, noting that the sun was setting further.

As they walked across the lawns Logan draped an arm over Ororo's shoulders again and she snuggled closer to him, reveling in the warmth he exuded. When they were close to the gazebo they heard whisperings emanating from their right. Growling, Logan shot out his claws and ran towards where the sounds were coming from, intent on catching whoever had the nerve to spy on Ororo and him.

When Logan got to where the sounds were coming from, however, he saw to his shock that a boom-box was the source of the noise, which had distracted him enough to get him to come over to investigate.

"Damn it!" Logan exclaimed and using his claws sliced up the boom-box, not bothering to leave any part intact and when he was done made his way back over to Ororo, who had been watching.

"Who was it, Logan?" she asked, an eyebrow going up in confusion. Logan growled and, sheathing his claws looked around them before answering.

"Just some stupid boom-box that was set up to distract us," Logan muttered, embarrassed that a stupid electronic device had distracted him. He was about to say something else to Ororo when a round of fireworks suddenly lit up the sky, bringing their eyes to the sky.

"Jubilee?" Ororo asked, walking forward a few feet to see if the firework-wielding mutant was the cause of the show in the sky. On getting no answer Ororo frowned and began walking forward another few feet but stopped when a spotlight fell on her. She covered her eyes, the bright light blinding her, and turned around, only to find that a spotlight was covering Logan as well.

"Logan, what's going on?" Ororo asked, making her way over to Logan, the spotlight following her every move.

"Hell if I know," Logan replied, not at all happy with the way things were going. He finally got back his sight and turning to Ororo said, "Let's run for it." Ororo nodded and together they ran for the cover of the mansion; however, unfortunately for them the spotlights followed their every move.

"The lights aren't leaving us alone, Logan," Ororo said, nervousness clouding the confident tone she usually possessed. Logan scowled; who in the hell was behind this?

When Logan and Ororo finally reached the mansion they thought that they'd be safe; they were wrong as the lights followed them and stayed on them for a few minutes. Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared the lights vanished.

"What the hell…" Logan murmured, his mind kicking into high gear as he tried to figure out what was going on. Ororo was thinking the same thing and both of them were scared stiff.

"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the finale of today's activities!" came a deep voice that was unrecognizable to Logan and Ororo. The younger mutants came pouring out of the mansion and onto the back lawn, all curious to find out what was going on. On seeing Logan and Ororo they looked at each other and shrugged, not sure what was going on that would concern Wolverine and Storm.

"Who the hell are you?" Logan demanded, unsheathing his claws and stepping out away from the mansion's security to where he had heard the voice emanating; the roof of the Institute.

"Just your friendly neighborhood prankster," the voice replied, now holding amusement and glee in it. Logan growled and opened his mouth to retort when the voice continued. "Now, before I reveal my final prank I must say that I am impressed by what has gone on here today; I saw people get along, I saw two people who are pains in the ass get what they deserved and I saw plans come to fruition. Before I continue my small speech do you any questions?"

"Yeah, I got a question for ya, bub. Who the hell are you?" Logan demanded, pointing his claws to the roof where he could just make out a dim outline of a human.

"I am just your friendly neighborhood prankster; that's all," the voice replied, amused at the response he got from Logan, who was now itching to jump up on the roof and rip apart the voice's owner. "Now, for my final and greatest trick!" the voice exclaimed and with a drumbeat sounding in the background the spotlights came on again. However, they were now aimed at the walls of the Institute, upon which now hung a large banner with a blown up picture of Logan and Ororo making out in Joey's Tavern the night before.

"Oh, now I remember! We all saw Wolverine and Storm making out last night!" Bobby exclaimed, the comment earning him dirty looks, glares, and a shock from Ray.

"Bobby, you are such an idiot!" Ray muttered, returning his eyes to the banner in front of him, his mind now showing him scenes from the night before, albeit the images were a bit fuzzy due to the amount of alcohol he had consumed.

Logan went pale while Ororo blushed heavily. "Goddamn it, how in the hell did they get that?" Logan muttered as he stared at the banner and the picture on it. The younger mutants stared at the banner, this time with Jubilee's hand over her boyfriend's large mouth, making sure he didn't say a word.

"So glad you all like this," the voice said, the tone once more amused and glee-filled. "Oh, and before I forget I have something else for you…" Before Logan or Ororo could react they saw two plastic bags heading their way, floating in the night breeze. Ororo was, by this time, standing next to Logan and she used her powers to bring the bags over to Logan and her.

"It's a blackmail note," Ororo muttered as she looked over the note in the bag, her skin now a pale shade of mocha brown. Logan grunted and, turning around saw the audience he and Ororo had.

"You all are in such deep shit it's unimaginable that you'll ever make it out!" Logan roared, his face showing that he wasn't in the mood for any negotiating.

"Chill Badger, we didn't do this," Tabby spoke up before Sam clamped a hand over his girlfriend's mouth, whispering to her to not say another word.

Ororo placed a hand on Logan's shoulder and he retracted his claws, earning confused looks from the group of mutants. Ororo then walked forward and taking command said, "We know that you all are responsible for what happened to Jean and Scott and you will be punished for that. However, I have a question for you." Here Ororo paused, not sure if she should continue but knowing that she had no choice said, "Did any of you happen to receive blackmail notes in the envelopes with your photographs?"

The group looked at each other and then at Evan, whom they knew stood the best chance of standing up against Ororo. Sighing, Evan stepped forward and replied, "Yeah, Auntie O, we did get notes with our pictures."

Ororo nodded and looking at Logan said, "Then, Logan, I think we're all in the same boat now." Logan grudgingly nodded, not at all pleased with the way things were going. Ororo turned back to the group and said, "Let's work together and try to find the source of these notes and pranks; deal?"

On getting nods Logan sighed and muttering curses under his breath said, "All right, let's go inside and after you guys clean up the foyer we'll get together and figure out our next step of action." Everyone nodded and prepared to go back inside, the spotlights still shining on the banner on the side of the Institute as the sun finally set.


	8. Finale

**A/N: **Well, I am done with my freshman year of college, and I know that you all must think me dead… however, I am still alive. Here's the final chapter of _Blackmail City_; I hope you enjoyed reading it just like I enjoyed writing it!

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

'_blah…' _-telepathy/what people say mentally

"…" – information on the notes/banners

**Chapter 8: Finale**

_**Kitchen, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 9:45 PM**_

After the mess had been cleaned up fairly well, the large group of mutants gathered in the kitchen at the table, with Logan and Ororo at the head, followed by Scott and a very reluctant Jean. Everyone else was sitting where they had been earlier that day.

Logan threw his bag, now devoid of the note, in front of him in utter frustration. "Alright, listen up: we've seen how these people operate – they wait for the time when we're off guard and then strike. I'm going to read my note out loud. When I'm done raise your hand if your note says the same thing." Logan cleared his throat, feeling all eyes on him, and began.

"Logan: Welcome to the maze of the exotic; well, not really like a jungle. Let's just say that the word exotic refers to what you found in the company of this note. Yes, I know what you are wondering and you are entirely correct in your deductions: I am blackmailing you. I know you are most likely pissed off and wondering just how the hell you are going to find me and kill me. I'll tell you what; I'll make a deal with you. All you have to do is come to the Danger Room at exactly 10:15 PM and wait underneath the observation platform for further instructions. Oh, and you might want to bring everyone else who received a note like this as well. Have fun!

Logan growled and crumbled the note up, willing himself to not lose his temper and eject his claws to shred something. He looked up and found everyone watching him. "Whose note said the same thing?" he asked gruffly, knowing that every hand was most likely going to go up in the air. True to his prediction every hand rose in the air, albeit some were shaking a little, not sure what Logan was going to do next.

Ororo took over then, placing a hand on Logan's shoulder, which had a calming effect on him as he sighed and unfolded the note, glaring at it rather than at the students. "Very well; I think we should all go to the Danger Room, and find out what we are supposed to do next. Shall we?" Ororo then got up from the table, taking her note with her, and moved towards the kitchen exit. Logan sighed and followed her, tossing his note in the garbage can on his way out.

Scott and Jean looked at each other, and, after a furious mental argument that Scott somehow won, they followed Logan and Ororo. Everyone else looked at each other, not sure what to do next.

"Remy thinks that we should follow 'em," Remy commented from his place, a deck of cards passing from hand to hand.

Bobby frowned; he made it his duty to research all kinds of tactics for pranking, yet in all his hours of research he hadn't come across something of this magnitude. "I don't know… I mean, how do we know that this isn't just another trap?"

John, who was flipping a lighter open and closed, leaned forward and said, "Oy think that we should follow Storm and Wolverine's lead; hell, if it comes down to a fight, mate, then we can take 'em; don' ya think?"

Ray nodded and said, "I agree with Pyro; we have more than enough power to combat a trap if one's launched; I vote that we go." Ray looked around and saw that Alex, Lance, Pietro, Warren, and Evan were nodding their heads in agreement.

Bobby sat silent, debating whether or not to follow his instructors' instructions, or to disobey them and stay safe in the kitchen. However, when it came down to it, Bobby made his decision. "You're right… we have all these powers, so there is definitely the chance that if we have to defend ourselves, we'll be able to do so! We can do this; let's go!" Bobby then got up from his seat and marched out of the kitchen, Jubilee following him while muttering under her breath about how stupid her boyfriend looked marching like a soldier. Everyone else followed Bobby's lead, John still flipping his lighter and Remy playing with his cards as they left.

_**Danger Room, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 10:10 PM**_

When the younger mutants reached the Danger Room they saw that Logan, Ororo, Scott, and Jean were staring up at the observation booth, all with murderous looks in their eyes.

"Scott, what's up?" Alex asked, moving so that he was to his brother's left. Looking up his eyes widened and his hands began to glow orange. "Damn it! They're going to pay!"

Everyone who had entered then turned their attention to the observation booth and amidst the curses and shouts that filled the room the object of consternation was finally seen. A banner with large, black words hung directly in front of them, seemingly taunting the mutants with its message.

The banner read, "Glad you all could make it. Now, I know I said that I would give you further instructions and I will. However, before I agree to give you more instructions you must promise two things. One—DO NOT KILL THE BLACKMAILER! I did this for your own good. Two—you must serve the blackmailer for a month or risk having your pictures sent to your guardians, leaving you to deal with the consequences. Only when I hear everyone's voice saying yes to my pleas will I show myself."

"Great… we risk total humiliation either way; what do we do here?" Tabby asked, crossing her arms in front of her, a frown marring her face.

Logan growled; he was not at all pleased at this development. He knew that Ororo was debating about what to do. If it weren't for the fact that if he didn't agree to the terms on the banner, he was risking getting Ororo disowned by her sister for not watching over Evan closely enough he would have said to hell with the banner and would have gone on a killing spree. Ororo cared deeply about her family; he knew that and knew that if she were disowned it would feel like a dagger in the back for her.

"I say we bring that booth down!" Lance said, fists clenched at his side. There was no way in hell he was going to serve some idiotic person who thought it amusing to make everyone suffer for the whole day. Hell, he had had to go through a Danger Room session that had almost ended up with him just narrowly missing getting impaled on a stray spike from Evan.

Kitty shook her head and, stepping up beside Lance said, "No, I think we have to follow this guy's demands. How many of us are willing to risk total humiliation on a global scale, and Lance, you'd have to deal with Magneto, who would most likely accuse you of not watching over Pietro, Wanda, and Lorna."

Lance shook his head, and, turning to Kitty responded, "Nope; Magneto would blame Pietro. He is the oldest of the three of them, after all."

Pietro glared at Lance from down the line, his sapphire eyes glittering dangerously. "You'll-die-Alvers…" he hissed, ignoring the glare Lexie was giving him.

"That may be, Lance, but you'd still get hurt, and I… I couldn't stand it if something happened to you," Kitty continued, her eyes staring into Lance's. She then threw herself into Lance's arms, hugging him. Lance returned it, and, after a minute, Lance sighed in defeat. Kitty smiled into Lance's chest; she had him.

"Fine… we'll do it your way, Kit-Kat," Lance said, eyes downcast, not wanting to see what reactions he'd get from everyone else who'd heard him.

Pietro opened his mouth to retort when Lexie clamped a hand over it and, turning Pietro to face her said, "Pie, Lance's right. If Magneto sees the photo he'll come after you, my dad, and me. I hate to say it but Logan and I don't stand a chance against him; he'd just manipulate our metal skeletons and torture us… he'd do even worse to you. What do you value more? A few moments of triumph, or months, even years of torture?" Her hazel eyes pleaded with Pietro's sapphire ones to see her point of view.

Pietro sighed; damn it, he was weak when Lexie used her eyes on him and she knew how to use it to her advantage. "Fine… I agree to the damn blackmailer's terms." He crossed his arms over his chest and on seeing Lance smirking at him from up the line added, "But-I-still-don't-like-it!"

Those who had heard Lance and Pietro's admissions that they'd follow the new rules of the game looked at each other and thought for a minute: was it really worth it to have Xavier riding their backs for months just to get the satisfaction of not having to serve the blackmailer? Ray sighed; he didn't like doing this but hell, if he wouldn't have to deal with the disappointed looks Xavier would be sure to send his way then he would take serving the blackmailer for a month.

"I'm in," Ray said, Amara nodding in agreement. Slowly, one by one, everyone agreed to the terms, with even Scott and Jean admitting that they'd serve the blackmailer for a month. Soon, the only person that was left was Logan.

Logan grunted; damn it did he wish that he had a cigar with him. After a few minutes of uneasy silence, Logan sighed and, looking up at the observation booth said loudly, "You win, bub. I'll serve ya for a month and I promise to not kill ya when I find out who you are. Happy?"

"Quite so," came the blackmailer's voice from the booth, every eye now on the glass paneling, craning to see who was behind the glass. "Thank you so much for agreeing to my plans. However, I sense that some of you are… how should I put this, insincere with your agreement that states that you wish to serve me. Therefore, I feel it necessary to have you all swear on your lives to not kill me and to serve me. Once I have that from all of you I'll continue."

The voice then stopped, leaving a group of fuming mutants beneath the booth, all of them pissed and angrily glaring at the observation booth.

_**Observation Booth, Danger Room, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 10:25 PM**_

While everyone below was angrily cursing at the booth Roberto and Rahne were seated on the floor, doubt showing in their eyes.

"Rahne… I don't know if I can do this… I mean, I bunk with Alex and when he gets pissed there's no way in hell that I can stop him," Roberto muttered, his eyes showing how unsure he was along with the desire to not die a premature death. "Maybe this thing got of hand and we've dug ourselves a hole that we just can't get out of now."

Rahne nodded in agreement and opened her mouth to add something to Roberto's demoralizing statement when she thought of something. "'Berto, we can do this; Ay mean, think. The whole time Ay was doubtin' our ability tae pull this off yet ye kept reassurin' me tha' it could be done. We've come this far; why give up now?"

Roberto looked over at Rahne and, grinning, remarked, "That's what I love about you, Rahne. You make me feel like I can do anything." Leaning over Roberto gave Rahne a quick peck on the lips and, getting to his feet said, "Ready to do this, Wolfie?"

Rahne nodded and taking Roberto's hand got to her feet. They then moved over to the glass panels, which had been covered in black paper to prevent anyone from seeing what was going on inside. Picking up a voice synthesizer Roberto nodded at Rahne, who flipped the switch that allowed the machine to work on. Taking a deep breath Roberto prepared to speak again, knowing that in doing so he would most likely exile every one of his friends in the process.

_**Danger Room, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 9, 10:25 PM**_

While Roberto and Rahne were putting the final touches on their plans the mutants below were angrily yelling back and forth about whether or not to swear on their lives to not touch the blackmailer.

"There is no way in hell that I'm going to swear on my life to not kill this guy!" Evan protested, his spikes threatening to rip through his clothing due to his rage. "He made me suffer today and deserves to pay!" He saw many of the mutants nodding in agreement, none of them willing to do that; to them it was just plain stupid.

"Come on guys… Ah think that we don' have a choice in tha matter," Sam said, running a hand through his hair, which he had taken out of its ponytail an hour ago. Tabby nodded beside him, just wanting to get this over with and get on with her life.

Ray glared over at Sam and said, "Yeah, I hear what you're sayin', Guthrie. You'd rather play the part of peacemaker then get our well-deserved revenge… yep, sounds like a plan to me."

Sam glared over at Ray and retorted, "Yeah, Ray, Ah can see where your plan's goin' ta get yah—stuck in tha professor's office while he stares at yah and tells yah how disappointed he is in yah. Do yah really want that, Ray?" Ray glared back and didn't say a word; they stayed this way until their girlfriends, tired of the pointless glaring contest slapped them upside their heads.

"Grow up you two! We need to decide on this thing now in a diplomatic manner and not go about it like some kind of barbaric tribe!" Amara declared, glaring at Ray while Tabby glared at Sam.

"She's right, yah know," Rogue said, stepping into the conversation. "We need ta settle this once and for all and Ah think tha' we have no other options. We have ta agree ta this guy's demented rules if we don' want ta have ta deal with a disappointed Professor Xavier."

Ororo looked at Evan and said, "Evan, I agree with Rogue. Now, I do not like this at all but we have no other choice in the matter. Would you like it if your mother found out about this?" Evan averted his eyes, not wanting to show his aunt how much that would affect him.

After a few minutes of silence between the two, Evan said, "Fine… you win, Auntie O." He then moved over to where Dani was and wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her against his chest and resting his head on top of hers. Dani didn't pull away; she knew that Evan needed comfort and if she could give it to him then so much the better.

Logan gauged the other warring couples and after a while turned to the booth and shouted, "Fine… you win again bub. I, for one, swear on my life that when I see your identities I will not gut ya and I will serve you."

The voice came back into existence, this time with a serious tone in it. "Are you sure that you want to do that, my friend? Have you thought about what it might entail?"

Logan snorted and, crossing his arms over his chest replied, "I know exactly what it entails, bub. Now, everyone here has voted me the representative, right?" Logan turned around and stared at the group, who all nodded yes. Turning so that he faced the booth Logan continued, "We all agree to your terms, bub. Now, keep your promise to us."

"Very well," the voice said before fading into nothingness. Roberto and Rahne looked at each other and, taking a deep breath both began taking down the black paper. While those below watched light shone out from between cracks, illuminating the scene inside. Once everything was down they watched the booth, eagerly awaiting the revelation of their assailants.

"I will keep my promise to you," the voice said, this time sounding higher pitched, almost as if a different person were speaking. "The identity of your blackmailer is …" the voice faded as two images appeared behind the glass paneling, earning curses and threats from the X-Factor team below.

"Hey guys… how's it going?" Roberto asked, a smile on his face while Rahne stood next to him, a large manila envelope in her hands as she grinned down at her teammates.

"Damn it Roberto!" Bobby screamed, pushing his way to the front of the group, anger in his eyes. "How could you do this to us! And Rahne! God, what happened? You were never like this until you and he got together!"

"Jealous, Bobby?" Rahne asked, knowing she shouldn't have just asked the question she did but noting that Bobby had paled considerably upon hearing the question, and Jubilee was marching up to her boyfriend, her eyes sparking.

"No!" Bobby screamed, his voice high and strained. Jubilee noted this and, glaring at Bobby slapped him upside the head. "Ouch! God, Jubes, I am not jealous of Roberto or Rahne, okay?!"

Jubilee glared at Bobby, daring him to say another thing. The rest of their team, who had been watching this, were shocked at the nerve of their friend. Bobby was right. When Rahne had first joined the Institute she had been shy and would never have done anything like she was doing now. However, when she and Roberto had hooked up she had been getting more and more daring, showing an evil streak that even she had never known she possessed.

Logan glared up at the two mutants behind the glass and opened his mouth to say something when Jean ran in front of him, and, glowing pale red took to the air, emerald eyes ablaze. "How dare you do this to us… to me!"

Roberto and Rahne didn't seem phased; in fact, they acted like they had been expecting this exact reaction from Jean. Shaking his head Roberto said, "My dear Mrs. Summers, do you honestly think that we weren't expecting this reaction from you? Well, you're seriously wrong." Roberto then took the envelope from Rahne's hands and, reaching inside pulled out another copy of the photograph that had made Jean faint earlier.

"We came prepared, Jean… and for anyone else down there who thinks that they can get out of this I thought that you would all like to know that Rahne and I have copies of all the pictures that you found this morning and throughout the day. We can give them to the professor at anytime if you don't serve us. So, what'll it be Jean?"

Jean glared; how dare these two… these two… damn, now she couldn't think of a good comeback! "…Fine," Jean relented, her voice still dripping in anger. "What'll it be, oh my dear master and mistress?"

Roberto and Rahne smirked at each other; phase three was complete.

_**Pool, Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville, NY, USA—June 10, 10:00 AM**_

"I'm only saying, Professor, give my new invention a chance," Forge pleaded, wanting to show Xavier that his new invention was a working model.

Hank shook his head and commented dryly, "Yes, Forge, do show us your new invention so that it may tear down half of the mansion again." Forge glared at the scientist and doctor, not wanting to get into a fight before noon but obviously feeling like he didn't have a chance.

"That will be quite enough," Xavier said as he, Forge, Hank, Sean, and Moira approached the pool area, all wanting to relax in the sunlight that was beaming down from above. "Forge, I do not think that it is in the best interests of the school that you test out your invention at this time. I believe that Henry will be more than happy to help you make sure that your invention is safe enough to use. Now, if you will excuse me I think that we should go and find spots at the pool before the students make it their home." Xavier turned his eyes back to the stone path ahead of him, leaving Forge and Hank to glare at each other.

"Umm, Charles, Ay do nae think tha' there is a chance of the students nae bein' here," Moira pointed out, alerting Xavier's attention to the fact that screams could be heard in the air.

Sean groaned. "Well, Charles, it appears tha' there will be no swimmin' fer us today." He sighed; he had been looking forward to swimming without having to share the pool with any of the younger mutants for once.

"Sean, Moira; tell me what you see," Xavier said slowly, drawing the two instructors' attention to the pool. Sean and Moira stared in shock; in front of them they saw Roberto and Rahne lounging in pool chairs, with Ray, Sam, Alex, and Bobby, all of whom were in their swim trunks with frowns on their faces, were fanning Roberto. Rahne also had her own fanning committee, which consisted of Amara, Tabitha, Lorna, and Jubilee in their swimsuits with shorts and white tank tops over the suits, frowns marring their faces.

The instructors' attention was then drawn to laughter and they saw Kurt, Amanda, Piotr, Fred, Todd, and Jamie. The six of them – all of whom were guests of Roberto and Rahne – were also being fanned by a combination of Pietro, Lance, Evan, Lexie, Kitty, and Danielle with Todd and Fred making comments to their Brotherhood companions, earning them dirty looks in retaliation. After the comments, Todd and Fred would laugh, with Kurt and Jamie joining in while Amanda and Piotr remained silent, having been forced to relax and not to try and make their fanners' jobs easier by helping. The males were once more in swim trunks while the females had on shorts and white tanks over their swimsuits.

Meanwhile, the instructors, with Forge and Hank joining the audience, saw that Roberto's gold-colored Mustang and Rahne's dark green Jeep had been driven so that they were just up the hill from the pool area. They were covered in mud and it appeared like… no, it was clear that John, Remy, Wanda, and Rogue were cleaning Roberto's car while Scott and Jean were cleaning Rahne's jeep. All of them were dressed in what appeared to be shorts and tanks, with Rogue having a mesh over her tank and torn jeans instead of shorts, and… scuba gear? None of them looked happy, especially John, who was complaining about how stupid the fins were and Remy was yelling at him to shut up and continue working.

The instructors then looked back over to Roberto and Rahne and saw Warren in a butler's outfit and Betsy in a maid's outfit, both with a tray of food. They were clenching their teeth, not wanting to do the task that had been assigned to them but knowing that they had no choice.

Finally, the instructors saw to their complete and utter shock Logan and Ororo swimming in the pool, seemingly involved in the middle of a race. Although Logan appeared to be sinking a bit due to his metal skeleton, he was swimming vigorously against Ororo, who appeared to be winning. He pulled ahead but then Ororo managed to snag the lead and they fought against each other, all to the cheers of Roberto and Rahne as they rooted for their favorite instructor. Both Logan and Ororo had grimaces on their faces, both planning their revenge as soon as their sentence was done in thirty more days.

Sean turned to Xavier and said, "Charles, I think we've entered a parallel dimension where everyone is servin' Roberto and Rahne." Moira nodded in agreement, knowing for a fact that half the mutants down there were supposed to have left this morning but were still hanging around, serving "X-geeks".

Xavier placed his head in his hands, and, after a minute lifted it again and replied, "Well, my friends, I do believe that the time for trying to find out the identities of the blackmailers and thwarting their plans has passed. We have lost, and it seems like Roberto and Rahne have won this battle. Now, my only question is will this school lose its reputation as an educational institute or become the battlefield for what I like to call "blackmail city"? I truly do not know my friends… I don't know." Sean, Moira, Hank, and Forge gravely nodded and looked back down on the scene, all of them noticing that Roberto and Rahne had on and both were grinning at the success that they had earned through trickery, deceit, and clever planning. Phase four was complete.


End file.
